iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Mingchao Liu @mingchaoliu.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

New video from #The_Evidence_Says featuring our work on rice-based smart materials. A nice accessible story about everyday grains, unusual mechanics, and adaptive materials. Worth a watch — and do subscribe for more science stories: www.youtube.com/watch?v=9D4f... #SciComm #SmartMaterials

youtube.com

Scientists Turned Rice Into a Smart Material

YouTube video by The Evidence Says

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Mingchao Liu @mingchaoliu.bsky.social · 27/10/2025

🍂 New paper (JMPS, OA): Midveins control how drying leaves curl/fold. Soft lamina shrinks; stiff vein resists → stress → 3D shapes. Nonlinear, non-Euclidean mechanics—and bioinspiration for morphable materials. 🔗 doi.org/10.1016/j.jm... @unibirmingham.bsky.social #Leaf #Mechanics #Biomimetics

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Mingchao Liu @mingchaoliu.bsky.social · 10/10/2025

Glad to be part of this exciting project!

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Mingchao Liu @mingchaoliu.bsky.social · 17/07/2025

🚀 Our tutorial on simulating nonlinear behaviors of flexible structures with the Discrete Differential Geometry (DDG) method is out in Applied Mechanics Reviews (ASME)! 📖 doi.org/10.1115/1.40... 🛠️ Code & demos: www.ddgflexsim.com 📰 UoB news: www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/2025/co...

doi.org

A tutorial on simulating nonlinear behaviors of flexible structures with the discrete differential geometry (DDG) method

Abstract. Flexible elastic structures, such as beams, rods, ribbons, plates, and shells, exhibit complex nonlinear dynamical behaviors that are central to a wide range of engineering and scientific ap...

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Mingchao Liu @mingchaoliu.bsky.social · 04/07/2025

It was a great honour to receive the 𝗙𝗹𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗢𝘂𝘁𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗘𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆-𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝗔𝗰𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗰 at the @unibirmingham.bsky.social 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀’ 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱𝘀: birmingham.ac.uk/events/found... Grateful for all the support from everyone!

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Mingchao Liu @mingchaoliu.bsky.social · 09/06/2025

🚀 New in JMPS! Real-time navigation control of magnetic soft continuum robots (MSCRs) in confined lumens! 🧲🩺 ✅ Hard-magnetic elastic rod + DDG + contact ✅ Real-time inverse design of magnetic fields A step closer to clinical translation! 🔗 doi.org/10.1016/j.jm...

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Mingchao Liu @mingchaoliu.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

Grateful to have wrapped up an amazing week in Changsha last week — reconnecting with old friends, mentors, and making new ones. Honored to receive the #ICCES_Outstanding_Young_Researcher_Award! Thanks for all the memories and inspiring conversations — onward! 🚀 @unibirmingham.bsky.social

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Mingchao Liu @mingchaoliu.bsky.social · 16/05/2025

Honoured to be Highly Commended for #Outstanding_Impact_by_an_Early_Career_Researcher at the @unibirmingham.bsky.social Research Impact Awards 2025! Grateful for the support of my collaborators and students. Excited to keep pushing the boundaries of mechanics & robotic metamaterials.

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Reposted by Mingchao Liu

Mathematical Observatory @mathobservatory.bsky.social · 12/05/2025

Buckling normally happens when you compress something slender, but 'tug' on a piece of crumpled paper at two points and it also buckles. Read more about how this "localized-TUG folding" occurs in many systems at: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2423439122

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Mingchao Liu @mingchaoliu.bsky.social · 14/05/2025

Published this week in @pnas.org: A thin sheet folds deeply from a small, localized pull. No patterning, no compression — just geometry. We call it #TUG_Folding — a new instability with α ∝ ε³⁄⁴. 🔗https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2423439122 @mathobservatory.bsky.social @unibirmingham.bsky.social

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