Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Comment
  • Published:

Morphing matter to support ecological restoration

Nature Reviews Materials (2026)Cite this article

Subjects

Widespread ecosystem degradation demands scalable strategies for plant establishment — the process of successful seed dispersal and burial that enables a seed to germinate, survive its vulnerable early stages and emerge as a resilient seedling. However, harsh environmental conditions often make conventional seeding efforts costly and ineffective. Inspired by natural seeding mechanisms that exploit environmental cues, emerging biodegradable, stimulus-driven morphing matter-enabled machines can support plant establishment across its critical phases, offering a pathway to low-impact ecological restoration.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Examples of autonomous plant establishment and their mechanism.

References

  1. Brancalion, P. H. S. et al. What makes ecosystem restoration expensive? A systematic cost assessment of projects in Brazil. Biol. Conserv. 240, 108274 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Simler-Williamson, A. B. & Germino, M. J. Statistical considerations of nonrandom treatment applications reveal region-wide benefits of widespread post-fire restoration action. Nat. Commun. 13, 3472 (2022).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  3. Patel, D. K., Zhong, K., Xu, H., Islam, M. F. & Yao, L. Sustainable morphing matter: design and engineering practices. Adv. Mater. Technol. 8, 2300678 (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Wang, D. et al. Launching by cavitation. Science 389, 935–939 (2025).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Wang, X. et al. Fracture-driven power amplification in a hydrogel launcher. Nat. Mater. 23, 1428–1435 (2024).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Qing, H. et al. Programmable seconds-to-days-long delayed snapping in jumping metashells. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 122, e2503313122 (2025).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  7. Fiorello, I., Ronzan, M., Speck, T., Sinibaldi, E. & Mazzolai, B. A biohybrid self-dispersing miniature machine using wild oat fruit awns for reforestation and precision agriculture. Adv. Mater. 36, 2313906 (2024).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Mariani, S. et al. A biodegradable, porous flier inspired by a parachute-like Tragopogon fruit for environmental preservation. Small 21, 2403582 (2025).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Luo, D. et al. Autonomous self-burying seed carriers for aerial seeding. Nature 614, 463–470 (2023).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Lu, Q. et al. Degrade to function: towards eco-friendly morphing devices that function through programmed sequential degradation. in Proc. 37th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology 1–24 (ACM, 2024).

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge funding support from the US National Science Foundation, including IIS-CAREER-2427455, GRC-2428641 and CNS-2427553. They thank all members of the Morphing Matter Lab for their valuable feedback and passionate support.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Morphing Matter Lab, Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Qiuyu Lu, Semina Yi, Tianyu Yu & Lining Yao

  2. School of Design, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China

    Qiuyu Lu

  3. Human-Computer Interaction Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Tucker Rae-Grant & Dinesh K. Patel

  4. Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Dinesh K. Patel & Lining Yao

Authors
  1. Qiuyu Lu
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Semina Yi
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Tucker Rae-Grant
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Tianyu Yu
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Dinesh K. Patel
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Lining Yao
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

Q.L. and L.Y. conceived the initial concept. Q.L. led the project development. L.Y. supervised the project. S.Y., Q.L., T.Y. and L.Y. created the figure. Q.L. and L.Y. wrote the initial manuscript. All authors contributed to the conceptual development and commented on the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lining Yao.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Lu, Q., Yi, S., Rae-Grant, T. et al. Morphing matter to support ecological restoration. Nat Rev Mater (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41578-026-00895-6

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Version of record:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41578-026-00895-6

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing