In order for humans to swallow a pill and be sure it dissolves in the stomach safely, it was up to the science of rheology to determine the properties and behaviour of the plastic pill once it goes down the esophagus. So, rheology is the study of the flow of matter, either liquid or soft solid.

Dimitrios Vlassopoulos is a chemical engineer and researcher in the field of rheology at the University of Crete (Department of Materials Science & Technology). He was recently presented with the Weissenberg Award of the European Society of Rheology for his contribution in research but also for bringing rheology to the forefront.

Although less known, rheology has numerous applications with another example from everyday life being the plastic bags used to preserve food, paint and even soap. "In the future, the ambition is to intervene at an earlier stage and change the chemical structure of materials so as to produce new ‘smart’ ones which will endure time and environmental changes," says Vlassopoulos.