This 787 wing thing reminds me of an old story I heard long ago.
During WWII there was a German engineer that was working on a new wing design. The only problem is the wings kept breaking in the same place no matter what he tried. He kept changing the wing design to resolve the issue but he just couldn't get it to not break. Finally, one night he was working late into the evening trying to figure out what to do, when he saw the janitor walk by. In desperation, the engineer asked the janitor if he had any ideas. The janitor, looking at the problem for a couple of minutes, suggested that they put some small wholes in the wings near the point that keeps breaking. This was obviously a strange idea, but the engineer figured, what the heck, nothing else has worked. Well, after more testing, the design held!!! Sure enough, the wholes fixed the problem. When the engineer went to the janitor and asked where the idea came from, the janitor said - Well, everybody knows that the toilet paper never tears at the perferations..........
