Kostas Danas is an engineer and research assistant professor at the National Center for Scientific Research of France (CNRS). He recently received a Starting Grant Award of €1.5 million by the European Research Commission (ERC) to conduct a five-year research project on smart magneto-active materials.

This type of material has one or more properties that can be significantly changed in a controlled fashion by external stimuli, such as temperature or magnetic fields. Normally, when we use materials for the purpose of constructing something, a bridge for example, we try to avoid fluctuations and changes of the materials’ properties because we want them to be solid or steady. However, in some cases, "controlled instabilities", such as causing waves, can be useful because they create the sense of touch, thus guiding people’s movements.

Aircraft engineers can detect damage easier and sensitive vision-impaired devices can facilitate peoples’ lives. The same applies to robotic surgery, where the sense of touch can help surgeons avoid damaging the patient during the surgery.
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