The Wombat Cube Factory

This example starts with a curiosity, not a selection from the Atlas’s suggested questions. “Why” can lead in two directions: how the cubes form, and what purpose their shape might serve. We will start with how they form. We do not need an answer before we begin; we need a question worth following.

The search we ran

On 17 September 2026, we used Codex’s built-in web-search tool with these queries:

• wombat cube poop research intestines stiffness drying feces site:pubs.rsc.org
• wombat cube poop research site:gatech.edu

The terms “feces” and “stiffness” help reach scientific writing; the domain filters focus the search on a journal publisher and a university. These are starting points, not a complete search of the literature.

What came back, and what we chose

• Original research: Intestines of non-uniform stiffness mold the corners of wombat feces, Soft Matter 17 (2021), 475–488. We chose it because it investigates the formation of corners and provides methods and results we can inspect. Read the full paper hosted by the research team.
• Research context: Georgia Tech’s “Studying Wombats’ Cubic Poop” appeared in the results. It is a route into the topic, rather than the evidence for our scientific claims. Its full page was not retrievable by our tool in this pass.
• An index record: PubMed 33289747 helps identify the study. PubMed indexes the paper; it did not conduct the research.

The publisher’s page returned a 403 to our retrieval tool. The research team’s PDF opened, and we checked the matching title, authors, journal details and DOI on page 475. The PubMed page returned no readable extracted text. Those access limits are part of the search record, not evidence against the paper.

The two papers in the original draft were supplied in advance. This search was performed during the revision; it is not a reconstructed history of how we first found them. The later drying paper remains below for the next part of the investigation.

Open Intestines of non-uniform stiffness mold the corners of wombat feces. On printed pages 476–477, look for what the researchers observed inside the wombats. In Figure 4 on printed page 479, look for what they represented in a mathematical model. Ask: which statements come from observations, and which depend on the model? Compare your reading with our three claim cards in this step. For the limits, read the assumptions on printed page 480 and the discussion on pages 482–483. Use the page numbers printed on the paper; the PDF viewer also counts a cover page.

Open Drying dynamics of pellet feces. Start on printed page 723, then inspect Figure 4 on page 728 and the results, discussion and conclusion on page 729. Ask whether the experiments support the proposed explanation. Our two claim cards in this step record what we concluded. The paper cites Intestines of non-uniform stiffness mold the corners of wombat feces as reference 2. You can compare both papers yourself. An optional further search in OpenAlex is a new investigation, not something we have already done here.

Using only the five checked claim cards in this example, write four short infographic panels for curious adults: the puzzle, the observation, the proposed mechanism, and what remains uncertain. Explain what we learned about wombats, not just how to research them. Keep observation and model distinct. Do not claim that drying explains pellet formation. Give every factual panel its claim IDs. Add no numbers, anatomy, or scientific claims that are absent from the cards.

01 · Puzzle
How do wombats make cubes?
What could give these shapes their corners?
Claim IDs: none; question only

02 · Observation
The shapes are already inside
Cube-like shapes were found inside the distal colon of the studied bare-nosed wombats.
Claim IDs: inside

03 · Proposed mechanism
Uneven stiffness, forming corners
In a simplified two-dimensional model, contractions with alternating stiffness regions produced square-like cross sections.
Claim IDs: model

04 · Still uncertain
The full explanation stays open
The model does not reproduce full biology. A drying study explored pellet length, but did not establish drying-induced cracking as the explanation.
Claim IDs: limits, drying, unresolved

The drafting agent compared every factual panel with its listed claim cards. Observation remains separate from the proposed mechanism; the uncertainty panel retains the model limit and unresolved drying hypothesis. The original draft is preserved in the project process record. No independent human verification or audience rehearsal is recorded.

The process panel preserves the actual second drafting prompt and its four-panel response. The agent compared the response with the five checked claim cards. This is an implementation-time drafting record, not a historical conversation or independent human fact-check. Without AI, arrange the same claim cards under four headings and write the explanation yourself.

The first layout below is an actual export, not a staged error. We found that the page reset hid the diagram’s SVG geometry; fixing its styling restored the concept sketch. We also enlarged the panel text. The final PNG and text view share the same vault captions. The drawing is an AI-generated illustration, not an observation or an anatomical model.

Actual illustration prompt

Create a warm editorial natural-history illustration for a public learning infographic. One anatomically recognizable bare-nosed wombat, full body in three-quarter side view, facing right, standing calmly on a small patch of muted sage grass. Stocky low body, short sturdy legs, small rounded ears, broad bare nose, soft brown-gray fur. Friendly but not a cartoon mascot: no clothes, no human gestures. Beside it, three small irregular rounded cuboid brown droppings, discreet and non-graphic, clearly not perfect dice or manufactured cubes. Hand-painted watercolor and soft colored-pencil texture, restrained naturalist field-guide style, clean pale warm ivory background (#f7f4ed), muted forest green and ochre accents. Airy composition with generous margins around the animal; landscape aspect ratio. No text, no labels, no numbers, no diagram, no anatomy cutaway, no logos, no watermark. The illustration must remain readable at small size and suitable for curious adult beginners.

Tool: built-in image_gen; exact model identifier not exposed. Generated 2026-09-17. The selected original image, first layout, final PNG, and editable source are retained with this example.

Use the adaptation instructions below. A live demonstration, rendered video, learner test, and independent human review are not claimed by this record.