Inventing new materials is only the first step. Getting them into mass production and use is just as hard.I’m writing these words using plastic keys, on a composite wood desk, looking at a Gorilla Glass screen. The screen is linked to a machined-aluminum computer, inside of which doped silicon switches on and off a billion times per second. One hundred and fifty years ago, not a single one of these materials existed. Materials are not charismatic technologies like cars or computers. Yet they ena...