Engineers from Polytechnique Montréal have unveiled a new parachute concept based on kirigami, the Japanese art of folding and cutting. The design is simple, robust, and low-cost, with potential to transform humanitarian aid deliveries and even space exploration. Professors David Mélançon and Frédérick Gosselin from Polytechnique’s Department of Mechanical Engineering led the project. Their team cut a plastic sheet with a “closed-loop” kirigami pattern, giving it new mechanical properties. In free fall, the sheet deforms into an upside-down bell when a weight is attached at its center.