The Euler spiral—also called the Cornu spiral, Spiros or Clothoid—is a shape whose curvature changes linearly with its length. It looks quite like an s-shape, where the tips of the "s" carry on ...

The Euler spiral — also called the Cornu spiral, Spiros, or Clothoid — is a shape whose curvature changes linearly with its length. It looks quite like an s-shape, ...

Rats have up to 70 whiskers on their faces, varying hugely in size, and shape. Almost every mammal possesses whiskers, but these rodents are what we call “whisker specialists,” meaning they ...

The whiskers all have different lengths and shapes, and their distribution is such that each whisker is represented as an interval on the Euler spiral. The researchers conjecture that this ...

This is why the Euler spiral can be used to describe all types of rat whisker, even though they come in many different shapes. Some are s-shaped, some get more curly towards the tip and some get less ...

Euler spiral of rat whiskers. Courtesy of Dr Eugene Starostin, London South Bank University/University College London. Most natural structures don’t display all of these three shapes.