NASA has discovered a new material that self-heals a wound when it is still fresh.

This could be a revolutionary breakthrough if it could be succesfully applied on humans, and those fascinating sequences showing the Terminator's bullet wounds vanish in an instant could become a thing of reality.

For now, the NASA is working on being able to use this for miltary purposes and spaceships wherein any damage or puncture caused to the facade could be self-fixed.

According to a News.au report here's how this works, prepare for some science jargon:

"When one or both of the polymer layers were punctured, oxygen entered and mixed with an ingredient found inside the gel called tributylborane.

This created a reaction which caused the liquid centre to solidify and heal the wound."

NASA funded the research done by a bunch of scientists at the University of Michigan, who published it in the journal, ACS Macro Letters. Scott Zavada, the lead author of the publication spoke to IFL Science about their research.

"Within seconds of coming into contact with the atmosphere, it goes from a liquid to a solid," he said.

This could particularly be useful for NASA for International Space Stations. In the case where a space object hits the ISS, and the inside air is escaping through the hole, this self-healing gel could be very useful as it quickly patches up the puncture.

Co-author Timothy Scott added that the "intent is really to plug the hole very quickly."

Catch a glimpse of this fascinating miracle of science:

Tags: NASA