  The dynamics of extended objects, such as strings and membranes, has
attracted more attention in the past decades since the fundamental objects
introduced in high-energy physics are no longer pointlike. Their motion is
generally quite intricate to describe and usually requires the sophisticated
tools of Conformal Field Theory, Quantum Field Theory and General Relativity.
This article argues that the Newtonian analogy of a catenary with free ends
offers a good description of some processes such as gravitational radiation by
an accelerated brane.
