Did anybody else love those dinosaur sponge pills, but wonder what would happen if you swallowed one? You can deliver on that slightly menacing magic with this new shapeshifting pasta invented by MIT's Tangible Media Group. 

Beyond whimsy, lead researcher Lining Yao, and supporting researcher Wen Wang, note that 67% of the space in macaroni pasta packaging is air. Taken to a global scale, flatter or adaptive foods could save an enormous amount of packaging costs.

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While experimenting with printed gelatin, the Tangible Media Group team found that certain variations in thickness would produce reliable 3d shape changes when exposed to water. By using a mix of media—gelatin and starches—they could encourage the flat "noodles" into curling, contracting and twisting.

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The outcome of the project was a conceptual pairing with renowned haute cuisine chef Matthew Delisle. Delisle took several of the uniquely shaped pasta and used both their final form and their transformation process as elements in a deliciously over the top meal. 

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Whether or not the curling noodles find their way to grocery stores, or even Michelin starred restaurants, the team's findings might well show up in forward thinking packaging and product design before too long.