Revolutionary LEGO-like Hydrogel System Enables Dynamic 3D Data Encoding

In a groundbreaking development, researchers at Beijing University of Chemical Technology, led by Professors Feng Shi and Mengjiao Cheng, have created a LEGO-like hydrogel system capable of reversible 3D information encoding. This innovative platform, which responds to external stimuli such as heat, salt, or light, allows for dynamic data storage, masking, and rewriting in over 800 billion configurations within a 5×5 array. The system's modular design, inspired by LEGO blocks, enables information to be continually updated or transformed, offering potential applications in smart labels, biomedical tags, environmental sensors, and secure data encoding. The research, published in Supramolecular Materials, highlights a cheap, energy-efficient, and scalable approach to information systems where materials themselves become the information.