Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne
National Laboratory attacked a tangled problem by developing a new technique to
grow tiny “hairy” materials that assemble themselves at the microscale.
The key ingredient is epoxy, which is added to a mixture of
hardener and solvent inside an electric cell. Then the scientists run an
alternating current through the cell and watch long, twisting fibers spring up.
It looks like the way Chia Pets grow in commercials.