Alane Lim, Helix
It really was a bargain from the bargain bin. Graduate student Alex Smith wanted to make a solar cell work better, and he found his solution in the most unlikely of places: a Blu-ray copy of Jackie Chan’s Super Cop.
Now picture a solar cell. It’s probably blue or some other dark color, glassy, arrayed into rows upon rows—and, depending on your taste, aesthetically pleasing. That doesn’t matter, though. Looks aren’t central to saving the environment. Making sunlight into electricity that can power your home is. Read more
Chicago Science Writers 