# @ucberkeleyofficial on Instagram

- **Type:** Video
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DL23CpEyleN
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/66184240-ucberkeleyofficial-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/30428d2313.jpg
- **Posted:** 2025-07-08T18:42:19.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** UC Berkeley (@ucberkeleyofficial) — https://gondola.cc/ucberkeleyofficial

## Caption

From self-folding chairs to self-planting seeds, UC Berkeley’s Morphing Matter Lab is transforming what’s possible in engineering design with their biomimetic materials. In this 101 in 101, UC Berkeley mechanical engineering professor Lining Yao offers a crash course in “morphing matter” — materials and structures that transform in response to environmental stimuli.

Yao leads Berkeley’s Morphing Matter Lab, where researchers study how natural forces interact with materials and apply those insights to engineering design and emerging technologies. 

The lab’s work spans both natural and synthetic materials, from 3D-printed thermoplastics that morph into chairs when heated, to wax paper that can self-fold, to liquid metal-epoxy polymers with the potential to power biofeedback devices.

All of these innovations reflect what Yao calls “embodied intelligence,” or functionality that is encoded in a material itself rather than driven by software. “It could be a new way of designing a robot,” she says, “and a new way to think about engineering design.” 

To Yao, morphing matter is more than a scientific pursuit. “It’s a really interesting, intellectual playground,” she says — one that sits at the intersection of science, design and nature.

🔗 For more 101 videos, visit the YouTube link in our bio: https://bit.ly/4bMwNlL 

#UCBerkeley #BrainLikeBerkeley🧠

## Stats

- **Views:** 11,677
- **Likes:** 12,394
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- **Comments:** 76

## Tags

ucberkeley, brainlikeberkeley

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