Engaging the head and the heart: why scientists turn to poetry

While traditional printer pigments fade and most structural color can't be printed, Kobe University material engineer Sugimoto Hiroshi has been working on nothing short of a revolution in the way color is produced.

"Methane reforming" is a process that turns methane (CH4) into hydrogen—which can be utilized as an environmentally friendly source of energy. The biggest downside is that methane reforming, in its current state, is not quite so gentle on the environment.

In 1999, a clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris) hatched in the aquarium of a tropical fish hobbyist in the UK. These clownfish are prized by aquarists for their unique pattern of three straight white bars bordered by a thin black line. But this UK fish was special: instead of the usual straight bars, it had wavy, corrugated patterns, symmetrical on both sides. The patterns were inherited across generations, leading to a lineage named "Snowflake," but the mechanism causing this irregular patterning r