Physicists are abuzz with possibilities for "metamaterials" that can be designed to have surprising properties.
Tweaking the structure of materials to manipulate things like their appearance is already fairly well-known; the next phase is changing their mechanics.
A major conference is alive with ideas, designs and samples including springy ceramics, unfeelability cloaks and programmable rubber sponges.
They could help build spacecraft tiles or even terrain-sensitive shoe soles.
"I think this idea of metamaterials is slowly migrating into different areas," said Prof Martin Wegener, from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany.
"Originally the excitement was all about electromagnetism - and then it went to totally different areas like thermodynamics and, lately, mechanics."
Prof Wegner also told the BBC that the term "metamaterial" has been applied to all sorts of weird and wonderful designs, without much consistency - but that it usually refers to a case where unusual properties jump out, which would not be expected from the original ingredients.
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