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Light-sensitive shape-shifters are swell gels - Polymer chemists have successfully emulated the natural shape-shifting abilities of biological tissues, which could allow them to develop a new range of functional materials that change shape reversibly in response to particular stimuli. Such materials would have applications in areas as diverse as biomedicine, robotics, tuneable micro-optics and tissue engineering. Original reference: J Kim et al, Science, 2012, DOI: 10.1126/science.1215309