Smart alloys were morphing substances first invented by Dr. Candace White. Dr. Elliot Sinclair participated in the project.
Sinclair thought that all the elements behave in a manner that is consistent with their atomic properties (eg. maganese bonds with barium cobalt in a very particular way under certain conditions) they resemble universal instruction sets of the DNA, which regulates the behavior of all cells in biologic organisms. With this premise, he supposed that even non-organic matter can be programmed at the molecular level to respond to a set of predetermined instructions and codes and proposed to do further research in this direction.
By the next year, Sinclair's team learned how to morph all of the elements even organic matter. Few of them such as argon, krypton and other inert gasses because of their unique electrochemical properties proved to be not only immutable, but even interferring with the bonding of surrounding molecules and bring the whole process to a halt.
The robot Mercury was supplied with morphing capabilities.