The new Holy Grail for aerospace design in the future would have to be shape shifting materials, manufactured memory, and new space-age materials built from the bottom-up at the nano-scale.
Currently, scientists are learning great things about Bucky Paper, Carbon Nano-tubes, and Graphene coatings which are only one atom thick.
Of course it's not just aerospace design that needs to strengthen its materials and lighten its load, as they could do a great bit of help throughout our transportation sector.
New alternative energy vehicles that weigh a fifth of what cars do today will easily be able to comply with any future miles per gallon mandates, to deal with our nation's oil usage challenges.
In fact, General Motors Labs has come up with a new material, which they hope to use in a fuel-cell membrane, that can maintain for her manufactured memory shapes, which will coincide with four different temperatures.
Physics dot Org online newletter describes it as "The material, a perfluorosulphonic acid ionomer (PFSA) called Nafion - a shape memory material," and goes on to state; " These materials can remember shapes set under specific conditions of moisture content, temperature, light, or exposure to a magnetic field.
" So far this material is made in small film structures, but this makes it a perfect type of material to use in aviation.
I propose using it for;

• Aircraft Wings
• Hypersonic Aircraft Intakes
• Helicopter Blades
• Aircraft Windscreens and Windows
• Aircraft Fuel Tanks
• etc.
  

After all, why let the automotive industry have all the fun, we can use space-age materials for NASA off planet colonies, bridges and roads, homes and buildings, ships and boats, containers and trucks, and even bicycles and golf clubs.
Even a teapot which changes shapes makes a lot of sense.
Shape shifting materials are the wave of the future, and it appears that General Motors is finally on the leading edge of this technology.
What they have discovered - and what other top universities and research and development companies are currently working on with such materials will surely change the way we live, and General Motors is pretty sure it will change the way we drive.
It appears that this nation will be able to meet all of its goals in the future for alternative energy in vehicles, as well as meet all the goals to reduce fossil fuels in our cars.
This is definitely a major breakthrough, so please consider it, and all the potential applications.
Ref; "Tunable polymer multi-shape memory effect," Tao Xie, Nature, 464, 267-270 (11 March 2010).