Modeling crystal behavior-toward answers in self-organization
(PHYSorg.com Physics)

The electrical and mechanical responses of crystal materials, and the control of their coupled effect, form one of the central themes in material science. They are vital to applications such as ultrasonic generators and non-volatile memory. However, despite knowledge of how to control such materials being widely demonstrated in practice, to date the physical principle behind the controllability through lattice organization remains undefined. Researchers at the University of Tokyo Institute of Industrial Science have sought to change this by creating a model based on the conflict between different lattice interactions. Their findings were published in PNAS.