From zebra stripes to a honeycomb lattice, nature features breathtaking patterns. Now, physicists based in China have found a way to recreate these natural motifs in 3-D — using just a little ...

Haley Mast is a freelance writer, fact-checker, and small organic farmer in the Columbia River Gorge. She enjoys gardening, reporting on environmental topics, and spending her time outside ...

Alfredo has a PhD in Astrophysics and a Master's in Quantum Fields and Fundamental Forces from Imperial College London.View full profile Alfredo has a PhD in Astrophysics and a Master's in Quantum ...

A new book explores the physical and chemical reasons behind incredible visual structures in the living and non-living world Maris Fessenden Former correspondent There are some imperfections, but for ...

There are many purposes that spots and stripes serve in nature, but how they form has been more of a mystery to scientists. Now, researchers have advanced their breakthrough theory – and it could help ...

A mixture of two types of pigment-producing cells undergoes diffusiophoretic transport to self-assemble into a hexagonal pattern. Credit: Siamak Mirfendereski and Ankur Gupta/CU Boulder A zebra’s ...

Neat rings, stripes and swirls embellish many cold, rocky landscapes. Although these beautiful stone patterns look like humanmade artwork, they’re all natural. Scientists have long known that such ...

Be it the Mima mounds of Washington state or the famous "fairy circles" of Namibia in southwestern Africa, people are captivated by the regular patterns of plant growth that blanket desert and ...

Labyrinths of stones form in cold landscapes when water freezes into ice needles that push pebbles to one side. Overtime, the rising and falling of ice needles move the pebbles into intricate ...

Six species of swallowtail butterflies occur locally, and they combine yellow, black, orange, blue and red in several diverse patterns that invariably catch the eye. We can marvel at them, but our ...

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