The 'Scutoid' Is Geometry's Newest Shape, and It Could Be All Over Your Body
From Gizmodo
Scientists have just defined a new shape called the scutoid (SCOO-toid) while studying epithelial cells, the building blocks of embryos that eventually end up forming our skin and lining our organs and blood vessels. They think the scutoid shape is extremely efficient at keeping cells tightly-packed and organized in the literal twists and turns of development.Read more: https://gizmodo.com/the-scutoid-is-geometrys-newest-shape-and-it-could-be-1827924643As embryos grow, their tissues curve and bend as they start to form into organs. Scientists thought the cells could stay tightly packed if they were bottle- or column-shaped, but computer modeling suggested that a more complex shape would be more likely.
First, a computer model set out to predict which cell shapes would be most efficient at staying in contact with one another in both flat or curved layers. That shape ended up being prism-like, with six sides one end, five on the other, and a strange triangular face on one of the long edges of the prism. Check out this diagram:
It boggles my mind that there are still new shapes to be discovered. It makes me wonder what other shapes haven't we discovered that could revolutionize our technology. Can one patent a shape?
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what problm was skin and lining our organs and blood vessels??
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Thanks for sharing this. I look forward to the day when we have semiconductor crystals assuming the scutoid shape. The will probably open to us a new world of semiconductor properties.
In that case, the discovery should get a patent.