A fluid lipid membrane transmits stresses and torques that are fully determined by its
geometry. They can be described by a stress-and torque-tensor, respectively, which yield …

As we enter the age of designer matter—where objects can morph and change shape on
command—what tools do we need to create shape-shifting structures? At the heart of an …

This monograph presents a general mathematical theory for biological growth. It provides
both a conceptual and a technical foundation for the understanding and analysis of …

Self-actuating materials capable of transforming between three-dimensional shapes have
applications in areas as diverse as biomedicine, robotics, and tunable micro-optics. We …

Living organisms use spatially controlled expansion and contraction of soft tissues to
achieve complex three-dimensional (3D) morphologies and movements and thereby …

Responsive materials,–have been used to generate structures with built-in complex
geometries,–, linear actuators,–and microswimmers,–. These results suggest that complex …

In nature, materials such as ferroelastics and multiferroics can switch their microstructure in
response to external stimuli, and this reconfiguration causes a simultaneous modulation of …

Non-Euclidean plates are plates (“stacks” of identical surfaces) whose two-dimensional
intrinsic geometry is not Euclidean, ie cannot be realized in a flat configuration. They can be …

We discuss methods of reversibly inducing non-developable surfaces from flat sheets of
material at the micro-scale all the way to macroscopic objects. We analyse the elastic …

Liquid crystal elastomers and glasses suffer huge length changes on heating, illumination,
exposure to humidity, etc. A challenge is to program these changes to give a complex …