coils and springs

i have always been fascinated by tendrils. it wasn’t until this century that scientists figured out how vines pull themselves up by their tendrils. they wind around the plant they are climbing, then the coil they have made contracts, and it pulls the vine up vertically, but it gets better than that, because at some point the tendril reverses direction and winds counterclockwise, so that the vine doesn’t pull the plant in a spiral. when they finally figured this out, scientists were able to invent a new type of spring with no net twist when it stretches and contracts. we just keep learning new things, and discovering how little we know.

teeny tiny vine tendril