. Despite their capacity to carry out functions that previously were unobtainable, smart polymers and hydrogels tend to have painfully slow response times. On the other hand biological systems go through phase changes at an extremely fast rate. Reflexive Polymers and Hydrogels examines the natural systems that respond almost instantaneously to environmental stimuli, and thus gives the reader an understanding of the mechanisms that govern these responses. The book includes chapters on approaches and procedures for designing a synthetic ...flash... system based on naturally occurring systems. It also deals with some of the promising potential applications of flash systems in industry.