Toylike blocks make lightweight, strong structures

Instead of reducing parts, engineers suggest building planes from thousands of identical pieces

BUILDING BLOCKS  Thin slices of carbon fiber composite  can link together to build lightweight lattices that could one day form the  framework of airplanes and spacecraft.

Image © CC-BY-NC-SA Kenneth C. Cheung

A carbon-fiber skeleton of Tinkertoy-like building blocks is 10 times as stiff as structures of similar densities.