In an Algerian quarry, scientists made an unexpected discovery toward a much bigger story: one that reaches across millions of miles, all the way to Mars.
Imagine a field of microscopic flowers that can fold, unfurl, and even kick off a chemical reaction without a gardener in sight. Researchers at the University of North Carolina have at Chapel Hill built just such shape-shifting “soft robots,” and the most interesting part isn’t what they are, but what they might be able to do.