Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
The development of both the physical and aesthetic properties of materials used to be a collaboration between the arts and the sciences. The potential rewards of reviving such a vibrant culture are great, and would benefit both the creative arts and materials science.
One of the largest controversial issues of the materials science community is the interpretation of scaling laws on material strength. In spite of the prevailing view, which considers mechanics as the real cause of such effects, here, we propose a different argument, purely based on geometry. Thus, as happened for relativity, geometry could again hold an unexpected and fundamental role.