While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes: • As engineered structures, many bird nests are uniquely flexible yet cohesive. • A research team led by Yashraj Bhosale wanted to better understand the mechanics behind these structural properties. • Bhosale’s team used laboratory models that simulated the arrangement of flexible sticks into nest-like structures. • The researchers analyzed the points where sticks touched one another. • When pressure was applied to the model nests, the number of contact points between the sticks increased, making the structures stiffer.