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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00:00Animals come in all shapes and sizes, but also pretty much all patterns.
00:08Those patterns might function as camouflage, aid in finding mates, or help them regulate
00:12heat.
00:13But now scientists may have figured out how they form.
00:15The researchers liken the process to one you might see when a bit of ink diffuses in water.
00:20The colors swirl and create somewhat of a pattern, but the difference is that a well-defined
00:24design never emerges.
00:25So the researchers employ the use of a computer simulation, specifically designed to mimic
00:30a process called diffusiophoresis instead.
00:33Diffusiophoresis is the spontaneous motion of colloidal particles, or molecules in a
00:37fluid, rather than a fluid in a fluid or a solid in a fluid like other processes.
00:42And when they conducted their experiments with these defined parameters, they noticed
00:45that not only did patterns emerge, but they were well-defined, just like animal patterns
00:50in nature.
00:51But this isn't all just for curiosity's sake.
00:53Researcher Ankh Gupta writes for The Conversation that skin patches could be produced that can
00:57sense changes and diagnose medical conditions, or monitor a patient's health by detecting
01:02changes in biochemical markers.
01:04Adding that they believe this process may also play an underappreciated role in the
01:08development of infants and tumors.