Tatiana Munteanu was aiming to make light-activated molecular motors, part of a growing class of metamaterials that can perform tiny amounts of mechanical work. Along the way, though, a synthetic intermediate caught her eye. “The beautiful pattern the droplets arranged into caught my attention, and I couldn’t help but take a picture,” says Munteanu, a postdoc at the Charles Sadron Institute.

Submitted by Tatiana Munteanu

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