http://science-beta.slashdot.org/story/14/04/24/1829232/new-shape-born-from-... <http://beta.slashdot.org/%7EUnknown+Lamer>Unknown Lamer posted 3 hours ago | from the sproingees dept. <http://science-beta.slashdot.org/index2.pl?fhfilter=science> Science <http://science-beta.slashdot.org/index2.pl?fhfilter=science> <http://science-beta.slashdot.org/story/14/04/24/1829232/new-shape-born-from-rubber-bands>85 <http://science-beta.slashdot.org/%7Esciencehabit>sciencehabit (1205606) writes "Physicists playing with rubber bands have discovered a new shape. In an attempt to create a spring that replicates the light-bending properties of cuttlefish ink sacs, a team of researchers suspended two rubber strips of different lengths. Connecting the bottoms of the two strips to a cup of water, the shorter band stretched to the same length as the longer one. After gluing the two stretched strips together, the researchers gradually drained the water from the cup. As the bands retracted and twisted from the reduced strain, the <http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0093183>researchers were shocked to see the formation of a hemihelix with multiple rainbow-shaped boundaries called perversions. The team hopes their work <http://news.sciencemag.org/physics/2014/04/video-new-shape-born-rubber-bands>inspires nanodevices and molecules that twist and transform from flat strips into predetermined 3D shapes on demand." There are <http://figshare.com/articles/_Structural_Transition_from_Helices_to_Hemihelices_/1006038>several videos attached to the original paper, and all can be viewed without flash. --- co-chair http://ocjug.org/