Can fast-moving plastic sheets create an invisible wall? Maybe, maybe not. But you can definitely explore the electric effects of plastic on your own.

Local plastics dealers and online retailers are two sources for large styrene sheet. We used the material for the backdrop on our 3 x 7 foot N scale Red Oak project layout from 2015.

Sheets of plastic that fold into tiny pyramids, boxes and spheres when water is added have been created by French researchers. They think the technique could one day be used to mass-produce the ...