A new form of self-assembling polymer film that bends and stretches when hit by light is pointing the way to a new family of functional materials. The film was developed at RIKEN Advanced Science Institute in Wako and The University of Tokyo

This flexing film is the first material to have been made by coaxing complex molecules to form large-scale, highly ordered three dimensional arrays — a discovery that could change the way that many active material are made, from artificial muscles to solar cells.