2026-05-12T15:40:16+02:000000001631202605
A liquid drop impacting a rigid non-wetting substrate starts spreading laterally (top column), whereas an elastic sphere deforms slightly and bounces off (bottom column). A new work bridges these two limits and offers a general framework for liquid-to-elastic transitions. Image copyright: Front cover image from S. Jana et al., Soft Matter 22, 2226-2236 (2026), https://doi.org/10.1039/D5SM01078K licensed under CC BY 3.0 by the Royal Society of Chemistry.
2026-05-12T15:40:16+02:000000001631202605

Impact with Memory: How Soft Materials Bridge Liquids and Elastics

Even a familiar phenomenon like a bounce can reveal new insights into the properties of soft matter, as a new study by researchers from, among others, the SoftComp partner Durham University, UK, demonstrates... (Read more)
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2025-11-25T17:30:47+01:000000004730202511
Two charged rods in water and counterions, generated with AI, ChatGTP, by the authors of the paper
2025-11-25T17:30:47+01:000000004730202511

Rod-Shaped Colloids Form Wigner Crystal

A long-standing scientific belief has been overturned: researchers from a SoftComp collaboration including Ca’ Foscari Univ. of Venice, Italy, and Univ. of Bordeaux, France, have observed a Wigner crystal forming in rod-like colloidal... (Read more)
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2025-02-06T15:20:15+01:000000001528202502
Figure 1: Aspect ratio is a crucial network building block property, defining network formation, architecture, and mechanics in synthetic and living systems. (Left) Schematic representation of the aspect ratios (AR) of protein L polyprotein constructs and fibrin proto-fibers. (Middle) A schematic representation of the two dominated formation regimes: translation diffusion limited (TDL) where building blocks can only interact by translating their centre of mass; and rotationally diffusion limited (RDL) where building blocks are able to interact purely via rotation about their centre of mass. (Right) The fitted increase in mechanical rigidity as a function of aspect ratio with inserted schematics showing the change in structural topology as the system transitions from TDL to RDL formation above the critical aspect ratio, ARc. Copyright: Image partly published in Hughes M. D. G. et al., Nat. Commun. 14, 5593 (2023) under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
2025-02-06T15:20:15+01:000000001528202502

Biology Exploits Geometry

Impact of Aspect Ratio on Protein Network Assembly: Scientists at SoftComp partner University of Leeds and STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, UK, have made an exciting discovery about the functional advantages of high aspect... (Read more)
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