During the early stages of life, organs do not just appear in their final form. They take shape through a process of controlled bending, twisting, and folding. These changes help cells organize into ...

Combining materials with different swelling ratios creates structures that transform into tubes when exposed to water. (Courtesy: Yu Bin Lee) Materials that controllably change shape over time – often ...

Enter 4D materials, which are like 3D materials, but they change shape when they are exposed to specific environmental cues, such as light or water. These materials have been eyed by biomedical ...

With 4D printing, the objects can change shape or properties using external stimuli such as temperature, light, pH, magnetic field, electricity, and moisture. Additionally, the changes in shape or ...

A recent article published in Small Science introduces fully bioderived, four-dimensional (4D) printable shape memory polymers (SMPs) with linear tunability and remotely controlled actuation ...