18-year-old Milan Karki claims that hair is easy to use as a conductor within the solar panels! This breakthrough could replace silicon, a far more expensive component that drives up the cost of producing solar energy. Milan was originally inspired after reading a book by physicist Stephen Hawking that
discussed ways of creating static energy from hair.
Melanin, the pigment which gives our hair its color, can be used in this conversion of energy and likewise serves as a great conductor of electricity. This discovery is even more important in the face of global warming and limited natural resources.