A breakthrough in the study of how things break, bend and deform

Every material can bend and break. Through nearly a century’s worth of research, scientists have had a pretty good understanding of how and why. But, according to new findings from materials science and engineering researchers, our understanding of how layered materials succumb to stresses and strains was lacking. The report suggests that, when compressed, layered materials — everything from sedimentary rocks, to beyond-whisker-thin graphite — will form a series of internal buckles, or ripples, as they deform.