Physicists at Emory University have shown how a system of lifeless particles can become "life-like" by collectively switching back and forth between crystalline and fluid states -- even when the environment remains stable.
Physical Review Letters recently published the findings, the first experimental realization of such dynamics.
"We've discovered perhaps the simplest physical system that can consistently keep changing behavior over time in a fixed environment," says Justin Burton, Emory assistant professor of physics. "In fact, the system is so simple we never expected to see such a complex property emerge from it."
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