When 25,000 little dice are agitated in a cylinder, they form into neat concentric circles
by Mark Frauenfelder from on (#39WME)
Behold the magic of compaction dynamics. Scientists from Mexico and Spain dumped 25,000 tiny dice (0.2 inches) into a large clear plastic cylinder and rotated the cylinder back and forth once a second. The dice arranged themselves into rows of concentric circles. See the paper and the videos here.