Physics explains how pollen gets its stunning diversity of shapes
The varied patterns can all be explained by a process called phase separation
![pollen shapes](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/021419_EC_pollen-scivis_feat.jpg?fit=860%2C460&ssl=1)
PATTERNS APLENTY Pollen from flowering plants comes in myriad shapes (as seen in these scanning electron microscope images, gray). Computer simulations based on a physics process called phase separation reproduced the grains’ shapes (orange).
SEM images: PalDat.org; Simulations: Asja Radja