The study of auxetic materials and their properties; or collectively, materials that display auxetic (unusual expansion) behavior.
From 'auxetic' (expanding laterally when stretched) + '-ics' (field of study). A relatively new scientific discipline that emerged in the late 20th century as researchers engineered novel materials.
The field of auxetics has exploded in the last 20 years because engineers realized nature creates auxetic structures—like bone, cork, and certain sea creatures—suggesting we've been surrounded by these materials for millennia without understanding them.
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