How does a caterpillar turn into a butterfly?
The Goo That Knew
How does a caterpillar turn into a butterfly?
Inside that dangling chrysalis hanging from the garden fence, something wild is happening. The caterpillar didn't just grow wings and walk out. It completely took itself apart — dissolved into goo — and rebuilt from scratch.
A caterpillar is basically a walking stomach. It hatches from an egg already knowing one job: eat leaves, grow enormous, eat more leaves. After a few weeks it's fifty times heavier, but it's still just a leaf-eating tube with legs.
