Chain-reaction cascades in surfactant monolayer buckling
  Certain surfactant monolayers at the water-air interface have been found to undergo, at a critical surface pressure, a dynamic instability involving multiple long folds of micron width. We exploit the sharp monolayer translations accompanying folding events to acquire, using a combination of fluorescence microscopy and digital image analysis, detailed statistics concerning the folding dynamics. The motions have a broad distribution of magnitudes and narrow, non-Gaussian distributions of angles and durations. The statistics are consistent with the occurrence of cooperative cascades of folds, implying an autocatalytic process uncommon in the context of mechanical instability. 
A. Gopal, V. A. Belyi, H. Diamant, T. A. Witten, K. Y. C. Lee