Creases as information bottlenecks in active elastic sheets (opens in new tab)

Self-folding materials capable of autonomous transitions between two- and three-dimensional states are widespread in biological active solids and are relevant to engineered systems. However, the programmability and robustness of self-folding behaviour, particularly in living tissues, remain poorly understood. Here we study a self-folding and unfolding mode in the early-diverging aneural animal Trichoplax adhaerens. We discover sharp crease lines that act as one-dimensional domain walls, compa...