Chemistry through the lens

'Polymazing' - an image by Ye Jin Eun and Douglas Weibel, University of Wisconsin-Madison, US, showing immersion in water of a thin layer of crosslinked poly(ethylene glycol) hydrogel covalently attached to the surface of an elastomeric polymer. The interplay between expansion of the hydrogel and the distortion of the elastomer creates the spontaneous buckling of the poly(ethylene glycol) layer, which forms a beautiful pattern of wrinkles. The physical phenomenon responsible for this buckling behavior emerges in many places in nature, including fingerprints and the wrinkles that form on the petals of flowers and the edges of leaves. This image received an honorable mention in the 2008 International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge, sponsored jointly by  Science and the National Science Foundation.