Researchers at MIT are using XSEDE resources to study polymers, the chemical compounds used to make plastic, rubber, and more. Details of the project are contained in the paper “Tube Curvature Slows the Motion of Rod–Coil Block Copolymers through Activated Reptation.” Wang and Brad Olsen, project principal investigator and assistant professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at MIT, in collaboration with Alexei Likhtman, professor of mathematical physics at the University of Reading in the U.K., performed fundamental research on what are called rod–coil block copolymers, polymers with characteristics that make them good study models because not only are they are a class of organic electronics, they also have molecules that are part rigid and part flexible. Polymers similar to these might be used to make electronics that are lighter and more compact, or so flexible they could be rolled up; clothes that have stronger fibers; plastic automotive parts that are lighter and yet very durable; and plastic materials mostly composed of enzymes that could catalyze chemical reactions, explains Olsen. To read further, please visit http://insidehpc.com/2015/08/xsede-powers-polymer-research-at-mit/.