PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Wrinkles and folds are ubiquitous. They
occur in furrowed brows, planetary topology, the surface of the
human brain, even the bottom of a gecko's foot. In many cases,
they are nature's ingenious way of packing more surface area
into a limited space. Scientists, mimicking nature, have long
sought to manipulate surfaces to create wrinkles and folds to
make smaller, more flexible electronic devices, fluid-carrying
nanochannels or even printable cell phones and computers. But to
attain those technology-bending feats, scientists must fully
understand the profile and performance of wrinkles and folds at
the nanoscale, dimensions 1/50,000th the thickness of a human
hair. In a series of observations and experiments, engineers at
Brown University and in Korea have discovered unusual properties
in wrinkles and folds at the nanoscale. The researchers report
that wrinkles created on super-thin films have hidden long waves
that lengthen even when the film is compressed. The team also
discovered that wh