A new pair of running shoes has soles made of a

graphene-rubber compound, giving them much more

strength and grip than your average shoes
 inov-8
 The softer a rubber sole is, the more easily it deforms and grabs on to
whatever surface you’re running on. But increasing grip usually
means sacrificing strength, since soft rubber wears down much
more quickly. “It’s this compromise between trying to get this very
good grip and having a hard-wearing, long-lasting compound of
rubber,” says Vijayaraghavan. Researchers have tried strengthening
rubber by adding substances such as silica, but it tends to make the
compound lose some of its grip.