Scientists develop world's first LIQUID MAGNET that could be one day be used to make fluid robots

Researchers have revealed the first ever liquid magnet that can stay magnetic even when changing its shape -- an attractive prospect for developing fluid robots. The liquid is made of nano-scale particles of metal floating in solution -- which normally would only behave as a magnet when in the presence of a magnetic field. But by using a special oil-polymer mixture, the team succeeded in jamming the particles so close together at the surface of the liquid that they can stay magnetic. The pioneering discovery changes our understand of magnetic materials and could find manifold practical applications in the future. Researchers have revealed the first ever liquid magnet that can stay magnetic even when changing its shape -- an attractive prospect for developing fluid robots. University of Massachusetts material scientist Thomas Russell and his colleagues spent seven years developing a simple method to transform so-called'paramagnetic ferrofluids' -- plain metal particles floating in a liquid -- into permanent magnets.