Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • NEWS

Mathematicians discover new class of shape seen throughout nature

‘Soft cells’ — shapes with rounded corners and pointed tips that fit together on a plane — feature in onions, molluscs and more.
  1. Philip Ball
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

Close up view of a chambered Nautilus shell cross section under colored light.

The chambers of the nautilus shell can be described by 3D soft cells. Credit: James L. Amos/Getty

Mathematicians have described1 a new class of shape that characterizes forms commonly found in nature — from the chambers in the iconic spiral shell of the nautilus to the way in which seeds pack into plants.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 634, 13-14 (2024)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-03099-6

References

  1. Domokos, G., Goriely, A., Horváth, A. G. & Regős, K. PNAS Nexus 3, pgae311 (2024).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Smith, D., Myers, J. S., Kaplan, C. S. & Goodman-Strauss, C. Combinat. Theor. https://doi.org/10.5070/C64163843 (2024).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links