With slits cut into a polymer window and elastic shape memory alloy (SMA) wires, Soo-in Yang and David Benjamin have developed a kinetic glass that reacts to environmental conditions. When sensors detect high amounts of carbon dioxide, an electric current is sent to the SMA wires that cause them to contract and open the slits etched in the window. Once equilibrium with the outside air is reached, the electric current subsides and the window resumes its original shape.
