We watched sticky liquid droplets spontaneously twist themselves into double-helices that look exactly like DNA.
arXiv · March 13, 2026 · 2603.12124
Why it matters
Scientists found that when certain 'smectic' liquids (similar to those in LCD screens) condense, they don't just form blobs; they snap together and wind into complex coils. This happens entirely due to the physics of surface tension and molecular alignment, proving that the 'double helix' shape can emerge in nature without any help from biological life.
From the abstract
Liquid-liquid crystal phase separation (LLCPS) occurs in many industrial and biological settings. To date the states of the separated condensed liquid crystals have been found to be nematic, columnar, or smectic phases. Interestingly, when smectic phases condense out of the liquid, they can form filamentous condensates that spontaneously assemble into sparse networks with rich life-like dynamics. Here, we study the underlying process of filament linking and conformational changes that mediates f