Physicists studying active matter — materials that can use their own internal energy to respond to forces — have uncovered surprising behaviors that challenge conventional ideas in mechanics.
Materials that bend, snap, crawl, or even dig on their own may sound like science fiction, but physicists are now building systems that can do exactly that.
Researchers from the universities of Amsterdam, New South Wales, and Cambridge are exploring a strange category of materials known as active matter. Unlike ordinary materials, active matter can draw on internal energy to respond dynamically to outside forces. Their latest experiments reveal behaviors that challenge some of the most established rules in mechanics and could eventually help shape the next generation of soft robotics and adaptive machines.
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