morphogenesis

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  • Frozen oil could be the key to shapeshifting materials

    by 
    Jon Fingas
    Jon Fingas
    12.27.2015

    Those odd, glowing shapes may look like they're straight out of a weird puzzle game, but don't laugh... they may be crucial to a future of ever-changing materials. British and Bulgarian scientists have discovered that oil droplets will form octagons, triangles and other not-so-natural shapes if you slowly freeze them while they're in a soapy solution. On top of that, they'll revert to their original states if you warm them back up. The results are more than a little odd, as you can see here -- they're non-living chemicals taking on artificial shapes in a lifelike way.