>> Second, you worked in the chemical industry for over 10 years. I'm sure
>> you're familiar with the names 3M, Dupont and BASF, just to name those.
>> Don't think for a second that these companies don't have large R&D depts
>> that work round the clock trying to come up with newer compounds
>
> I was under the impression that 3M's main business is *manufacturing*
> plastics, not designing new ones. (Actually, I was under the impression
> that 3M manufactures finished products that have plastic _in_ them, but
> I guess they probably sell raw plastic to other people...)
>
>> Have you noticed how nowadays most eye glasses are made of plastic?
>> Clear plastics with higher IOR (sorry for getting slightly on-topic for
>> P.O-T) than glass were unheard of 30 years ago. The progresses made in
>> the domain of contact lenses is even more impressive than that of
>> conventional glass lenses.
>
> Really? I thought *all* transparent materials have an IOR different than
> air. As in, it's impossible to *avoid* this (e.g., if you wanted to make
> a kind of "invisible glass", you can't do it.)
>

Where did air come from.  I mentioned GLASS?

>> The "technical" garment industry has also greatly benefited from these
>> new polymers. You're a skier, so you've most certainly seen the
>> 74732327523 tags that are sewn or attached on a new ski jacket or
>> gloves, touting the amazing breathability, yet still impermeable,
>> feather light, yet warm as a mammoth pelt, machine washable, yet won't
>> fade properties these clothes now offer.
>
> I thought that all of those claims were radically exaggerated marketing,
> and that these materials are basically identical to what we had 40 years
> ago.

Then you thought wrong.  Even if the marketing does tend to overstate 
their capabilities a bit.

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