When a ship runs aground, or two vessels crash into each other, the damaged one may lose its stability, or worse, sink. But imagine if after a ship accident, balloons popped up like car airbags to keep the disabled vessel upright and afloat .

Lighter ships mean more freight, less trips and therefore less fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. Veikko Hintsanen, a captain from Finland, and the researchers from Fraunhofer have designed a “Bioship” based on the new material.

The new material is lighter than water and has a high stiffness . Within seconds a cube made from aluminum starts to inflate into the shape of a sponge under the impact of heat.

Italian and German researchers of the European Research Project MC-WAP have replaced the diesel engines with a propulsion system based on molten carbonate fuel cells.