Word: soft
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...such minor glitches have done nothing to dull the enthusiasm for developing even more exotic materials. By combining particles of chlorophyll with molecules of a soft plastic, researchers at M.I.T. have made a rubbery gel that shrinks and swells in response to an electric charge. The substance could conceivably be used to make artificial muscles. A superhard ceramic is being developed to make engines that do not need oil or a radiator, and get 100 miles to a gallon of gas. Scientists are also working on a "smart" ceramic that can respond to stress. Simply put, the material is laced...
That declaration pitted Walesa, 47, against Mazowiecki, 63, a former colleague, who urged gradual political and economic change and wanted to postpone the presidential campaign until 1991. Walesa accused the Mazowiecki government of dragging its feet on reform and of being too soft on former Communists, many of whom still occupy important positions. What will Walesa do if elected? "There will be a lot of improvisation," he says vaguely. "I'll travel around and check things...
Even so, the sheer size of the consumer debt burden remains a threat to the health of the economy. "The whole idea of stretching out debt maturities to provide a soft landing is a snare and a delusion," contends economist A. Gary Shilling. "When you go into default, the total size of the debt is all that matters...
Then I learned that blue squares opposed pink triangles. Are we now going to be besieged by posters of soft pornography right before parent's weekend, I wondered? How exciting! But, to my intense disappointment, this was not going to be. "Imagine what else I could have learned!" No, we were instead deluged by text from a group with the most annoying acronym in modern history...
...sweating and grunting has redefined the cultural parameters of female attractiveness -- away from soft curves toward a more athletic body. For proof, just compare pop icon Madonna to her prototype, Marilyn Monroe. On her Blond Ambition tour, Madonna flashed chiseled biceps and deltoids, so impressing one Los Angeles critic that he wrote that instead of the customary audience call for "Author! Author!" the cry from Madonna's fans should be "Fitness trainer! Fitness trainer!" Tennis ace Martina Navratilova also notes the changing standards. When the Czechoslovak-born athlete defected to the U.S. in 1975, she was so embarrassed...