😋 So what if you could buy your pasta of choice in a simple, compact 2D form and then watch it take on the desired final 3D shape as it cooks? Scientists at Carnegie-Mellon University (CMU) have figured out a simple mechanism to do just that.

😋 "We were inspired by flat-packed furniture and how it saved space, made storage easier, and reduced the carbon footprint associated with transportation," said co-author Lining Yao, director of the Morphing Matter Lab at CMU.

😋 The research project didn’t begin as a culinary endeavour. The team set out to pattern and build two-dimensional structures that could transform themselves into three-dimensional shapes.

😋 This could be useful for food delivery to disaster sites or for astronauts in space stations, environments where large amounts of food ideally should take up as little space as possible, and could have applications for soft robotics and biomedical devices.

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✈️ Maybe they serve pasta on board?