A team of scientists from the Georgia Institute of Technology and Ohio State University has invented a soft polymer material, known as magnetic shape memory polymer, which uses magnetic fields to change into a variety of forms. This is the first material that blends the powers of all of these individual elements into a single system able of quick and reprogrammable shape changes that are lockable and reversible. The material could allow a range of new applications from antennas that alter frequencies on the fly to gripper arms for fragile or heavy objects.