In nature, many things have evolved that differ in size, color and, above all, in shape. While the color or size of an object can be easily described, the description of a shape is more complicated. In a study now published in Nature Communications, Jacqueline Nowak of the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology (MPI-MP) and her colleagues have outlined a new and improved way to describe shapes based on a network representation that can also be used to reassemble and compare shapes.