#shape-changing

Researchers make shape shifting cell breakthrough

A new computational model developed by researchers from The City College of New York and Yale gives a clearer picture of the structure and mechanics of soft, shape-changing cells that could provide a better understanding of cancerous tumor growth, wound healing, and embryonic development.

Mark D. Shattuck, professor of physics at City College's Benjamin Levich Institute, and researchers at Yale developed the new efficient computational model. It allows simulated particles to realistically change shape while conserving volume during interactions with other particles. Their results appear in the latest edition of Physical Review Letters.

Developing computer simulations of particles, such as sand grains and ball bearings, is straightforward because they do not readily change shape. Doing the same for cells and other deformable particles is more difficult, and the computational models researchers currently use do not accurately capture how soft particles deform.

The computational model developed by Shattuck and lead investigator from Yale, Corey O'Hern, tracks points on the surfaces of polygonal cells. Each surface point moves independently, in accordance with its surroundings and neighboring particles, allowing the shape of the particle to change. It is more computationally demanding than current simulations, but necessary to correctly model particle deformation.

Responsive Surfaces Workshop by IALab Bartlett UCL.

A 2 week workshop held in Xuzhou China in 2016

如果環繞我們四周的表面都會與我們互動呢？這個工作坊探索了會改變形狀的不同形式，日常東西似乎都被注入了生命，也看到數位資訊如何被融入不同材質。

An aircraft that could change its wing shape while flying before diving into the water and morphing into a submarine would seem far fetched even in a Hollywood blockbuster. But scientists at Cornell University believe they have taken a major step towards making that a possibility by making a hybrid material featuring stiff metal and soft, porous rubber foam.

This combination retains the best properties of both individual materials – stiffness when required, but elasticity if a change of shape is needed. Even better, the material has self-healing properties.

The team used a porous silicone foam and a soft alloy called Field’s metal, which contains no lead – as they wanted the material to be biocompatible. The elastomer foam was dipped into the molten metal before being placed in a vacuum, meaning the air in the foam’s pores was replaced by the alloy.

When heated above 62ºC, cooled, then reheated, the metal showed the ability to deform, become rigid, then return again to its original shape. Rob Shepherd, the engineering professor leading the team, explained that the material was inspired by octopuses, ‘It's sort of like us – we have a skeleton, plus soft muscles and skin. Unfortunately, that skeleton limits our ability to change shape – unlike an octopus, which does not have a skeleton.’