Although there has been talk about bendable smartphones and even bendable batteries, no one has been able to create a material for truly flexible electronics that allows for rolling, folding and easy carrying. In fact, no one has been able to create something that has all three ideal features of such devices: flexibility, conductivity and transparency. However, the Houston team took gold nanowires and created a mesh material. This material was then embedded on a transparent polymer. Gold is more ideal than previously tested metals, such as silver and copper, as it doesn’t oxidize easily, giving it better overall long-term conductivity. To test this material, the scientists stretched it up to 160 percent. The nanomesh material only lost a small portion of conductivity when stretched to its limit, but that conductivity returned when it snapped back to its original form.