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Soft matter (colloids, polymers, proteins…) often self-assembles into gels with diverse structure and mechanics, ubiquitous in nature and extensively used to improve diverse industrial products, where they provide texture, softness, and stability. Through the interplay between their microstructure with an imposed deformation, they can be stretched, flow, squeezed or fractured, but controlling and being able to design such processes (think for example to soft inks for 3D printing technologies) requires a fundamental understanding that is still lacking.