Mathematicians Crack Decades-Long Tiling Puzzle with Upgraded Einstein Shape

Researchers have discovered a new-and-improved "einstein" - a single shape that tiles a plane, or an infinite two-dimensional flat surface, but only in a nonrepeating pattern. The new monotile discovery does not use reflections and is a close relative of the original "hat" einstein. The team produced a family of strong or "strictly chiral aperiodic monotiles" through a simple modification of the T(1,1) tile, named "Spectres," which only allow nonperiodic tilings, and without reflections.