[lelio]

as well as a spherical ground state
The article seems to imply that a spherical shape isn't the ground state, did I read that right?
If that's the case, does that mean that experiments where you assume that you're bouncing particles off of one another and you're expecting billard ball reactions will be to be re-examined?

[coloradan]

The article seems to imply that a spherical shape isn't the ground state, did I read that right?

I don't think so. The article states a sphere is possible, and makes the analogy to prisoners walking around in a cell. The non-spherical shapes arise from the prisoners walking around and bumping into the walls. In the ground state there is no walking - and hence no bumping.