Discovered by an amateur mathematician in 2022, this strange construct can tile an infinite surface without repeating. The “hat” tile is a mathematical wonder. Smith’s hat-shaped discovery emerged as a solution to something called the “einstein” math puzzle, which dates back to the 1960s. But after studying the light pattern, he and his co-authors decided it must be caused by the asymmetry of the underlying hat tile. Future optical devices, they say, could be premised on this mathematical curiosity, unlocking potential benefits that you don’t have to be an Einstein to appreciate.