Researchers unfold secret stability of bendy straws
(PHYSorg.com Chemistry)

Collapsible dog bowls, bendable medical tubes and drinking straws all seem to work on a common principle, snapping into a variety of mechanically stable and useful states. Despite the many applications for such `designer matter` structures, however, the fundamental mechanisms of how they work have until now remained mysterious, say materials scientists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst led by Ryan Hayward.