Animals come in all shapes and sizes, but also pretty much all patterns. Those patterns might function as camouflage, aid in finding mates or help them regulate heat,but now scientists might have figured out how they form.
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00:00 Animals come in all shapes and sizes, but also pretty much all patterns.
00:07 Those patterns might function as camouflage, aid in finding mates, or help them regulate
00:12 heat.
00:13 But now scientists may have figured out how they form.
00:15 The researchers liken the process to one you might see when a bit of ink diffuses in water.
00:20 The colors swirl and create somewhat of a pattern, but the difference is that a well-defined
00:23 design never emerges.
00:25 So the researchers employ the use of a computer simulation, specifically designed to mimic
00:29 a process called diffusiophoresis instead.
00:32 Diffusiophoresis is the spontaneous motion of colloidal particles, or molecules in a
00:37 fluid, rather than a fluid in a fluid or a solid in a fluid like other processes.
00:42 And when they conducted their experiments with these defined parameters, they noticed
00:45 that not only did patterns emerge, but they were well-defined, just like animal patterns
00:49 in nature.
00:50 But this isn't all just for curiosity's sake.
00:53 Researcher Ankh Gupta writes for The Conversation that skin patches could be produced that can
00:57 sense changes and diagnose medical conditions, or monitor a patient's health by detecting
01:01 changes in biochemical markers.
01:03 Adding that they believe this process may also play an underappreciated role in the
01:08 development of infants and tumors.
01:10 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:14 (upbeat music)