For many, the phrase probably conjures the signature bundles of red licorice (and the only real way to eat them). To material scientists like the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s Yuris Dzenis and his colleagues, though, it represents a useful metaphor for the surprisingly similar structure of the high-performance fibers found in body armor and aerospace engineering.
It could also describe a powerful new technique for analyzing and, Dzenis hopes, ultimately combating the failure of those polymer fibers — not a decade too soon.
