[Image above] The research group of UC Davis associate professor Ricardo Castro built a Captain America-sized fire-deflecting shield to demonstrate the power of materials engineering. Credit:Engineering Superheroes， YouTube
Ever since Marvel Studios released the first Iron Man movie in 2008, the superhero genre has become a全球占领电影的主导形式。
这种受欢迎程度的原因是多方面，包括无情和坦率的营销策略，扇子忠诚度以及对其他因素的遗嘱欲望。然而，虽然我们经常专注于这些电影的幻想本质，作为一个大的绘制，其中一些most popular superheroesare the ones whose powers are themost scientifically plausible。
这种现实主义不是意外着名的漫画书作家斯坦李said in interviews that he tried to feature science heavily in his comics, andMarvel Studious regularly consulted南加州大学物理学家Clifford V. Johnson为其电影。
对于科学教育者来说，超级英雄的现实主义和普及能够通过乐趣和吸引力的镜头教授科学的机会。我们突出了其中一些“super” science lessonsonCTT.之前，今天我们展示了一位acers acer的展示如何在课堂和实验室中激发学习。
里卡多卡斯特罗和超级英雄科学
里卡多卡斯特罗是加州大学戴维斯的材料科学与工程教授。他强烈相信，表现出对学生学习过程的一个组成部分。因为超级英雄电影尤其展示了一个“通过CGI独特而神奇的世界”，它提供了一个很好的机会，“如果这是真的，那么它背后的工程概念是什么？”他解释了一个UC戴维斯新闻稿。
2015年，卡斯特罗队推动了一个名为“的本科工程课程材料奇迹：超级英雄的科学“这表明超级英雄是如何对新材料和技术的思想的产品和资源。班级是成功，现在是一个官方的一部分regular course catalogue。
Last year, Castro began developing a new initiative calledEngineering Superheroes，一系列短系列视频和使用超级英雄的活动，以引入年轻的观众来源。The inspiration for this initiativecame from his two sons, ages 6 and 8, and the additional challenges faced by teachers as they switched to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.
这是第一个工程超级英雄集发布的，专注于美国盾牌背后的科学。该集团由国家科学基金会研究陶瓷科学基金会司提供资金，2015650以及通过UC Davis crowdfunding。
In addition to designing superhero-inspired lesson plans for different age groups, Castro also uses superheroes as inspiration during research.
Castro’s research group专注于了解陶瓷材料和复合材料中的纳米级效果以及如何最佳地处理这些材料以控制其纳米级行为。几年前，在一个需要吸收影响和消散能源的设备的项目时，他们向船长施工，这被证明可以停止子弹和导弹，而不会将该能量转移到美国队长。
To build the real-life shield, the team used a composite made of piezoelectric crystals, epoxy resin, and carbon nanotubes. “The crystals absorb the impact and convert it to electricity, which is dissipated into a matrix of carbon nanotubes that make the material tougher instead of transferring energy to the user,” a UC Davis新闻稿解释。
虽然盾牌确实表现出“从这种电力的韧性的显着改善”，但是，卡斯特罗说盾牌只是硬币的尺寸，从而限制了其应用。
Though no longer working on this project, Castro says the shield inspired other research pursuits, such as the search for the toughest transparent material on earth, now funded by the Army Research Office. It also inspired his group to build a Captain America-sized fire-deflecting shield to demonstrate the power of materials engineering, which you can see in the video below.