Polymers are an important ingredient in many materials, including the colorful plastics shown here. Scientists have developed a new polymer material to help repair small cracks that might develop in such polymer-based products.

Most people get their drinking water from lakes, rivers or groundwater aquifers. But before it flows out the tap, cities will typically treat the water in big industrial plants, as here, to purify it.

One in five people who wear contact lenses flush their used eyewear down the sink or toilet. That plastic pollutes the environment and can harm wildlife.

In nature, this magnesite takes thousands of years to form. Now researchers can make tiny amounts of this mineral in the lab. And it only takes three months to form.