Word: plastic
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Dates: during 1990-1990
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...their most dramatic action, the protesters held a macabre "die-in" at the corner of John F. Kennedy and Mt. Auburn Sts. As some demonstrators carrying banners prevented cars from entering the intersection, members of the group dressed in plastic "body bags" took up positions in the middle of the street...
Remember the war on drugs? George Bush waving a plastic bag of crack bought across the street from the White House during a nationally televised speech? The Pentagon planning to station an aircraft carrier off the coast of Colombia to monitor suspected drug smugglers? Candidates for political office proffering urine samples and daring their opponents to do the same? The appointment of combative William J. Bennett as the nation's first drug czar, a post from which he would coordinate an all-out assault on a menace that seemed to threaten the very survival...
...dairy products. Nowadays, almost no customers are seen there during peak afternoon shopping hours. No wonder. Refrigerator cases offer bottles of a sour apple-grape drink instead of butter and cheese. In a touch of the absurd, otherwise barren shelves display seltzer-water dispensers and brightly colored plastic Little Drummer Rabbit dolls, presumably for toddlers who will have to do without fresh milk...
...fastest-growing market is the auto industry, which is increasingly replacing metal with lightweight plastics in bumpers, body panels and other parts. These polymers typically weigh half as much as steel but are just as strong. The plastics conserve gas by making a vehicle lighter, and manufacturing them requires 10% to 20% less energy than fabricating metal parts. Admittedly, there can be problems. General Motors found that the polymer body panels of some of its minivans started to peel like old wallpaper. Moisture had seeped between the sheets of plastic and caused the panels to come unglued...
...such minor glitches have done nothing to dull the enthusiasm for developing even more exotic materials. By combining particles of chlorophyll with molecules of a soft plastic, researchers at M.I.T. have made a rubbery gel that shrinks and swells in response to an electric charge. The substance could conceivably be used to make artificial muscles. A superhard ceramic is being developed to make engines that do not need oil or a radiator, and get 100 miles to a gallon of gas. Scientists are also working on a "smart" ceramic that can respond to stress. Simply put, the material is laced...