The Next Disney Princess Might Have Curly Hair, Thanks to Science

Animated films portray heroes and villains as polar opposites. From clothes to facial expressions, you can tell who's who. Cruella De Vil from 101 Dalmations, for instance, never looks innocent or noble. But, if you study them, neither good girl nor bad boy has bouncy, curly hair. That's because a 3D strand of curly hair didn't exist — until now.

A team of  researchers  from France and MIT collaborated to design the first strand of animated 3D curly hair. The study could lead to new, curly-haired characters for the animated film industry, but it also holds potential for advances in predicting the curvature of steel pipes, tubing and cables wrapped around spools, letting us better analyze a structure's stability. Read more...