Abstract :
Among the claims to fame of Switzerland¿s Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) is Alinghi, the yacht, which won not one but two America¿s Cups. Part of that success can be attributed to the state-of-the-art carbon-fiber composites that make up Alinghi¿s hull. In many cases, such composites can substantially heal themselves following a collision. Now a graduate student has invented a way to juice the self-healing with a little electric current.
