A few years back, while working on his Ph.D. at Cambridge, aspiring biologist Fernan Federici began studying self-organizing systems under the microscope.
Using a technique called flourensence microscopy Federici discovered visually stunning representations of self-assembly – a process through which things organize themselves without instruction.
According to Federici self-organization is still a burgeoning field of study and there’s still a ton to lean about the process. What’s more self-organization's potential engineering applications are numerous and nearly unbelievable. “We can imagine a future of intelligent material” said Federici. “For example, instead of chopping a tree down to make a chair, scientists might eventually be able to control a tree to just grow a chair.”
Source: Wired
Images Courtesy of Fernan Federici