Working on the simplest animal found in the Red Sea – placozoa – Stanford scientists in the lab of bioengineer Manu Prakash discovered a new type of tissue folding, never before seen in nature. Like living origami, this flat animal performs complex shapeshifting. Without a brain or nervous system, the researchers figured out how these forms are inherently embedded into this sheet of cells.

The research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, presents a new role for a familiar cellular feature: cilia, the hairlike structures found on the outside of many cells. The researchers discovered that placozoa’s cilia walk along surfaces to mold tissue shape and form. With this insight, graduate student Charlotte Brannon and Prakash, the lead and senior authors of the paper, put forward a bold new idea about the evolution of shape and form in earliest animals – hundreds of millions of years ago – inspired by the simple principles of origami.

In addition to improving our understanding of animal life and evolution, this work offers insight into tissue development, which is a vital process in living things. The importance of tissue folding is readily apparent in the folds of our brains and the joining of tissues during embryonic development.