Researchers from Skoltech and the University of Granada have found a way to speed up the architectural design of vaults and domes with wavy patterns, while also conserving construction materials. By ...

Inspired by natural 'snapping' systems like Venus flytrap leaves and hummingbird beaks, a team of scientists has developed a way to use curved creases to give thin curved shells a fast, programmable ...

Despite the fact that the equations governing how surfaces wrinkle have been known for some time 3, they remain impossible to solve in all but the simplest cases (even for a Hookean material, for ...

Let's think of a paper sheet. If we tried to stiffen it from its primary state, it couldn't support its own weight. However, if we bend it, the sheet achieves a new structural quality. The shells act ...

Curvature and mechanics are intimately connected for thin materials, and this coupling between geometry and physical properties is readily seen in folded structures from intestinal villi and pollen ...