When you bring a box home from the furniture store, you don't expect the screws, slats, and other pieces to magically converge into a bed or table. Yet this self-assembly occurs every day in nature. Nothing tells atoms to link together; nothing tells DNA how to form. Living materials contain the very instructions and ability to become a larger whole.
"Self-assembly is the universal process by which very complex structures are put together in nature. They are dynamic, they are multi-functional, they are adaptable," said Nick Kotov, a University of Michigan researcher.
Unlocking self-assembly could allow us to create materials that don't exist naturally and we can't currently create ourselves.
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