PAINT DRIES IN LOTS OF PLACES.

PAINT DRIES IN LOTS OF PLACES. Professor Mahadevan, whom I posted on yesterday, sees paint drying everywhere. He sees mountains as wrinkles on the earth. He sees the islands of Japan as formed by molten lava collapsing with a perimeter which can’t shrink quickly. He traces the patterns of folding leaves to whether cells on the surface of a tissue are shrinking or expanding at a greater rate than the cells on an inner layer. Finally, in an example that appeals to my experience, when sheets of paper are wet and dry at different rates, waves form (think of trying to shut a paperback book that has had coffee spilled on it).