Nature has a way of finding optimal solutions to complex problems. For example, despite the billions of ways for a single protein to fold, proteins always fold in a way that minimizes potential energy. This kind of optimization is explained by what’s known as a variational principle: any other deformation — or variation — of the shape found by the protein would require more energy. Now, researchers from Harvard have found that some lasers use the same principle.
Source: EurekaAlert, https://www.eurekalert.org