https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. A smartwatch can tell us the level of oxygen in our blood, when our sleep is restless or the number of steps we take in a day. Now imagine that kind of tracking ability for plants. By the time farmers see curling leaves or stunted growth in their fields, their crops may already have spent days under stress. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-wearables-track-health-farmers-real.html Biotechnology Thu, 09 Jul 2026 10:20:07 EDT news702807380 Over the past decade, Professor L. Mahadevan's Soft Math Lab at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) has helped establish how the ancient Japanese paper arts of folding or cutting can be used to inversely design structures that transform dramatically in shape and function. Now, the researchers have created a new class of shape-changing matter, based not on folds or cuts, but linkages—networks of interconnected scissor mechanisms that collapse into lines and deploy into curved surfaces. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-collapsible-scissored-surfaces-trilogy-metamaterial.html General Physics Wed, 24 Jun 2026 15:20:03 EDT news701524441 Solar sails have some major advantages over traditional propulsion methods—most notably, they don't use any propellant. But, how exactly do they turn? In traditional sailing, a ship's captain can simply adjust the angle of the sail itself to catch the wind at a different angle. But they also have the added advantage of a rudder, which doesn't work when sailing on light. This has been a long-standing challenge, but a new paper available on the arXiv preprint server by Gulzhan Aldan and Igor Bargatin at the University of Pennsylvania describes a new technique to turn solar sails—kirigami. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-failure-propulsion.html Space Exploration Mon, 29 Dec 2025 10:40:01 EST news686226172 Inspired by the Japanese art of kirigami, a team of scientists from the University of Amsterdam have developed a material that can reflect different colors of light, depending on how it is stretched. The results were recently published in the journal ACS Photonics. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-chameleon-nanomaterial-mechanical-strain.html Nanophysics Fri, 05 Dec 2025 11:43:40 EST news684157381 A research team from the Institute of Biological Information Processing (IBI-3) at Forschungszentrum Jülich, working with partners across Germany, has developed an innovative technique for folding flexible, high-density microelectrodes into three-dimensional shapes inspired by the Japanese paper art of kirigami. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-scientists-3d-neuroprobes-based-kirigami.html Bio & Medicine Mon, 16 Jun 2025 12:30:03 EDT news669295507 Kirigami is a traditional Japanese art form that entails cutting and folding paper to produce complex three-dimensional (3D) structures or objects. Over the past decades, this creative practice has also been applied in the context of physics, engineering, and materials science research to create new materials, devices and even robotic systems. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-intuitive-geometric-method-inverse-kirigami.html General Physics Sun, 25 May 2025 09:00:01 EDT news667223147 The practice of purposely looping thread to create intricate knit garments and blankets has existed for millennia. Though its precise origins have been lost to history, artifacts like a pair of wool socks from ancient Egypt suggest it dates back as early as the third to fifth century CE. Yet, for all its long-standing ubiquity, the physics behind knitting remains surprisingly elusive. https://phys.org/news/2025-02-theoretical-physics.html General Physics Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:19:13 EST news659355547 Two-dimensional (2D) materials have atomic-level thickness and excellent mechanical and physical properties, with broad application prospects in fields such as semiconductors, flexible devices, and composite materials. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-method-tuning-instability-2d-materials.html Nanophysics Mon, 22 Jul 2024 09:17:47 EDT news640858663 New options for making finely structured soft, flexible and expandable materials called hydrogels have been developed by researchers at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology (TUAT). https://phys.org/news/2024-04-laser-patterned-thin-kirigami-opportunities.html Nanomaterials Thu, 11 Apr 2024 12:47:03 EDT news632058422 Recent research has led to the development of film-type shape-configurable speakers. These speakers, based on the unique properties of MXene, offer tunable sound directivity and hold immense promise for the rapidly growing field of wearable electronics. The study is published in Advanced Materials. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-unveils-shape-configurable-mxene-based-thermoacoustic-loudspeakers.html Nanomaterials Fri, 01 Dec 2023 07:32:03 EST news620638321 Adhesive tape fulfills many purposes, from quickly fixing household appliances to ensuring a reliable seal on a mailed package. When using tape with a strong bond, removing it may only be possible by scraping and prying at the tape's corners, hoping desperately that surface pieces don't tear away with the tape. https://phys.org/news/2023-06-stronger-tape-ancient-japanese-art.html Materials Science Thu, 22 Jun 2023 12:00:01 EDT news606646660 The ancient art of origami is well known for transforming sheets of paper and other foldable materials into complex 3D shapes. But now, chemical engineers have extended the centuries-old practice to produce intricate shapes made of glass or other hard materials. Their thoroughly modern method, which can be combined with 3D printing, could have applications ranging from sculpture to catalysis and beyond. https://phys.org/news/2023-03-modern-origami-method-glass.html Materials Science Tue, 28 Mar 2023 05:23:21 EDT news599199796 Plant movement has long fascinated many researchers. Legumes are a group of plants famous for exhibiting various leaf movements, including "nyctinastic movement," in which the leaves open in the day and close at night. Similar plant movements include blue light-induced and touch-sensitive movements, such as in sensitive plants like Mimosa pudica. https://phys.org/news/2023-03-pulvinar-cell-wall-legume-motor.html Plants & Animals Thu, 16 Mar 2023 13:39:03 EDT news598192741 A traditional paper crane is a feat of artistry. Every fold in origami leads to the transformation of a single square sheet of paper into a bird, a dragon, or a flower. Origami discourages gluing, marking or cutting the paper, but in the art of kirigami, strategically placed cuts can transform the shape of the paper even further, creating complex structures from simple slits. A well-known example of this is a pop-up book, where depending on how the flat paper is cut, a different set of shapes—a heart, a frog, a set of skyscrapers—will emerge when the book is opened. https://phys.org/news/2022-06-kirigami-inspired-metamaterials.html General Physics Tue, 28 Jun 2022 09:35:24 EDT news575627720 Origami, the Japanese art of folding paper into decorative shapes and figures, has long served as inspiration for industrial design. The concept of folding has been used to build reconfigurable structures, which change their function by changing their shape. These structures are promising for applications such as nanorobots for drug delivery, foldable solar panels for aerospace, and morphable cladding and shading for architecture. However, most of these designs cannot bear heavy loads. Those that can are only able to do so in a certain direction, collapsing along the direction in which they fold. This limits their use as structural materials. https://phys.org/news/2022-05-origami-kirigami-reconfigurable-materials.html Materials Science Wed, 25 May 2022 02:29:42 EDT news572664579 Semiconducting nanomaterials with 3D network structures have high surface areas and a lot of pores that make them excellent for applications involving adsorbing, separating, and sensing. However, simultaneously controlling the electrical properties and creating useful micro- and macro-scale structures, while achieving excellent functionality and end-use versatility, remains challenging. Now, Osaka University researchers, in collaboration with The University of Tokyo, Kyushu University, and Okayama University, have developed a nanocellulose paper semiconductor that provides both nano−micro−macro trans-scale designability of the 3D structures and wide tunability of the electrical properties. Their findings are published in ACS Nano. https://phys.org/news/2022-04-electronics-trees-nanocellulose-paper-semiconductors.html Nanomaterials Tue, 26 Apr 2022 11:00:12 EDT news570184363 Photoresist-based patterning strategies have been standardized for decades since the invention of photolithography. However, there are still major challenges in the processing of certain functional structures. For example, the standard resist-based high resolution patterning process usually requires point-by-point exposure of the target resist structures, leading to extremely low throughput and an unavoidable proximity effect when defining multiscale patterns; high-energy beam irradiation can easily cause damage to the materials; and the negative-tone-resist-based lift-off process is challenging. https://phys.org/news/2022-03-unique-pattering-strategy-based-resist.html Nanomaterials Wed, 16 Mar 2022 10:36:06 EDT news566645762 The ancient arts of origami, the art of paper-folding, and kirigami, the art of paper-cutting, have gained popularity in recent years among researchers building mechanical metamaterials. Folding and cutting 2D thin-film materials transforms them into complex 3D structures and shapes with unique and programmable mechanical properties. https://phys.org/news/2021-11-origami-kirigami-mechanical-metamaterials.html General Physics Tue, 23 Nov 2021 11:00:02 EST news556872557 Researchers have designed electromechanically reconfigurable ultrathin optical elements that can be controlled and programmed on a pixel-by-pixel level. These versatile metasurfaces could offer a new chip-based way to achieve nanoscale control of light, which could lead to better optical displays, information encoding and digital light processing. https://phys.org/news/2021-09-reconfigurable-metasurfaces-nanoscale.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 09 Sep 2021 18:26:56 EDT news550430813 Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed materials that can be used to create structures capable of transforming into multiple different architectures. The researchers envision applications ranging from construction to robotics. https://phys.org/news/2021-09-metamorphosis-materials-shape-shifting-architecture.html Condensed Matter Wed, 08 Sep 2021 09:04:12 EDT news550310649 A new approach to producing metamaterials draws on kirigami techniques to make three-dimensional, reconfigurable building blocks that can be used to create complex, dynamic structures. Because the design approach is modular, these structures are easy to both assemble and disassemble. https://phys.org/news/2021-08-three-dimensional-kirigami-blocks-dynamic-metamaterials.html Nanomaterials Mon, 09 Aug 2021 13:41:01 EDT news547735252 Curved imagers that can adjust their shape could have many valuable applications, for instance, aiding the development of more advanced medical imaging tools and cameras. Most existing flexible curvy imagers, however, are either not compatible with tunable focal surfaces or can only capture images with low resolutions and pixel fill factors. https://phys.org/news/2021-07-curvy-shape-adaptive-imager-based-optoelectronic.html General Physics Fri, 23 Jul 2021 09:30:02 EDT news546246636 Azobenzene functionalized liquid crystalline polymers are considered "smart" materials owing to their programmable shape transformations under various external stimuli (i.e., thermal, chemical, and photomechanical shape morphing). In particular, their light responsivity allows for untethered powering and actuating systems. Now, researchers from Inha University have demonstrated preparation and actuation of reduced graphene oxide patterned azo-LCN (azo-LCN/rGO) with highly enhanced elastic modulus, electrical conductivity, and photomechanical actuation performance. https://phys.org/news/2021-05-3d-reconfiguration-stretchable-electronics.html Materials Science Fri, 28 May 2021 07:06:05 EDT news541404363 A new technique that mimics the ancient Japanese art of kirigami may offer an easier way to fabricate complex 3D nanostructures for use in electronics, manufacturing and health care. https://phys.org/news/2021-03-kirigami-style-fabrication-enable-3d-nanostructures.html Nanophysics Wed, 31 Mar 2021 09:55:47 EDT news536403343 Multistable mechanical metamaterials are artificial materials whose microarchitecture offers more than two different stable configurations. Existing mechanical metamaterials rely on origami or kirigami-based designs with snap-through instability and microstructured soft mechanisms. Scalable structures that can be built from mechanical metamaterials with an extremely large number of programmable stable configurations remain elusive. In a new report now published on Science Advances, Hang Zhang and a research team in engineering, electronics, and advanced structure technology in Beijing China, used the elastic tensile/compressive asymmetry of kirigami microstructures to design a class of X-shaped tristable structures. The team used these constructs as building block elements to build hierarchical mechanical metamaterials with one-dimensional cylindrical geometries, 2D square lattices and 3D cubic or octahedral lattices with multidirectional multistability. The number of stable states increased with the cell number of mechanical metamaterials incorporated in the work, and the versatile multistability and structural diversity demonstrated applications within mechanical ternary logic operators with unusual functionalities. https://phys.org/news/2021-03-hierarchical-mechanical-metamaterials-multiple-stable.html Nanophysics Fri, 12 Mar 2021 10:10:01 EST news534764432 Paper snowflakes, pop-up children's books and elaborate paper cards are of interest to more than just crafters. A team of Northwestern University engineers is using ideas taken from paper-folding practices to create a sophisticated alternative to 3-D printing. https://phys.org/news/2020-12-japanese-artform-technique.html Nanomaterials Tue, 22 Dec 2020 13:11:51 EST news527865099 3-D micro-/nanofabrication holds the key to building a large variety of micro-/nanoscale materials, structures, devices, and systems with unique properties that do not manifest in their 2-D planar counterparts. Recently, scientists have explored some very different 3-D fabrication strategies such as kirigami and origami that make use of the science of cutting and folding 2-D materials/structures to create versatile 3-D shapes. Such new methodologies enable continuous and direct 2-D-to-3-D transformations through folding, bending and twisting, with which the occupied space can vary "nonlinearly" by several orders of magnitude compared to the conventional 3-D fabrications. More importantly, these new-concept kirigami/origami techniques provide an extra degree of freedom in creating unprecedented 3-D micro-/nanogeometries beyond the imaginable designs of conventional subtractive and additive fabrication. https://phys.org/news/2020-05-kirigamiorigami-unfolding-regime-advanced-d.html Nanomaterials Wed, 27 May 2020 11:36:20 EDT news509798177 Scientists have recently explored the unique properties of nonlinear waves to facilitate a wide range of applications including impact mitigation, asymmetric transmission, switching and focusing. In a new study now published on Science Advances, Bolei Deng and a team of research scientists at Harvard, CNRS and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering in the U.S. and France harnessed the propagation of nonlinear waves to make flexible structures crawl. They combined bioinspired experimental and theoretical methods to show how such pulse-driven locomotion could reach a maximum efficiency when the initiated pulses were solitons (solitary wave). The simple machine developed in the work could move across a wide range of surfaces and steer onward. The study expanded the variety of possible applications with nonlinear waves to offer a new platform for flexible machines. https://phys.org/news/2020-05-pulse-driven-robot-motion-solitary.html General Physics Fri, 08 May 2020 10:05:08 EDT news508151086 The counterintuitive question on how to wrap a curved spherical surface using conventionally stiff and non-stretchable or brittle materials, forms the basis of this study. To answer the question, Yu-Ki Lee and a research team in the departments of materials engineering and computer science in the Republic of Korea and the U.S. extended a geometrical design method of computational origami to wrap spherical constructs in a new report now published in Science Advances. The approach provided a robust and reliable method to engineer conformal devices for arbitrary curved surfaces using a computationally designed nonpolyhedral developable net. The computer-aided design transformed two-dimensional (2-D) materials such as silicon (Si) wafers and steel sheets into conformal structures that could fully wrap 3-D structures without fracture or deformation. The computational wrapping method allowed them to develop a design platform to transform conventionally non-stretchable 2-D devices into conformal 3-D curved surfaces. https://phys.org/news/2020-04-origami-universal-method-d-surfaces.html Materials Science Wed, 15 Apr 2020 10:20:02 EDT news506163557 Surface electromyography (sEMG) is widely used to investigate human motion including athletic performance. Baseball pitchers require very precise movements to pitch the ball to the strike zone, where the palm muscle plays a key role during movement. Recording the sEMG from the palm can help analyze motion during baseball pitching, however, currently available devices are bulky with rigid electrodes that impede natural movement of the wearer. Kento Yamagishi and a team of researchers in the School of Advanced Science and Engineering, Faculty of Sports, and Digital Manufacture and Design in Japan, therefore described a new skin-contact patch. The wearable device contained kirigami-based stretchable wirings and conductive polymer nanosheet-based ultraconformable bioelectrodes. The research team designed the device to address the mechanical mismatch between human skin and electronics and published the results on Nature Asia Materials. https://phys.org/news/2019-12-elastic-kirigami-patch-electromyographic-analysis.html Nanomaterials Fri, 27 Dec 2019 09:40:01 EST news496648007