Scientists working in the field of nanotechnology have made an important breakthrough in how to create nanoscale 3D structures, thanks to flowers. According to this abstract from “Nanotechnology Now, “a team from the Aalto University in Finland in collaboration with the University of Washington has made an important breakthrough utilising a phenomena that can be commonly observed outside the laboratory in the natural world, from the curling of flowers to the opening of seed capsules in ice plants: deformation through stress-relaxation.” As far as I can tell there is no indication of what these tiny structures will be used for (other than to catch lactose particles) but this article about how flower-shaped nanostructures may be able to boost energy storage and solar cell technologies could be one use (h/t to the National Wildlife Federation’s Pinterest account for this!). ~AR

(via Nanotechnology Now - Press Release: “Advanced Origami: Nanostructures From Flowers to Boxes”)