When you need to repair a broken plastic container, sculpture, tool, or another item, what's the first mending agent you reach for? If you said "super glue," you are not unlike most people.

Super glue, or cyanoacrylate as it is formally known, is one heck of a useful adhesive. Developed in the 20th century as a result of a program to create plastic gun sights, it is loved for its ...