Collaborate Disseminate
Frequently, when looking for answers to human problems, scientists turn to animals who have already evolved their own solutions. So when it came time to develop a heat-trapping fabric, a team of researchers looked to polar bears, whose outer layers all… Continue reading Polar bear’s light-funneling fur key to new super-warm textile
While there are already garments which cool or warm their wearer via circulating liquids, those garments tend to be equipped with cumbersome, noisy pumps. An experimental new system, on the other hand, uses interwoven tubular fibers as pumps.Continue R… Continue reading Clothing with interwoven “fiber pumps” could warm or cool wearers
Most of us don’t really need to wear special pants that let us know when we’re exhausted; we’re good at figuring that out all on our own. However, when it comes to hardcore athletes, getting an alert when the body starts moving in a way that indicates … Continue reading Pants made with electronic yarn could transmit exhaustion alerts
Whether they’re patients with degenerative diseases or astronauts in weightless environments, there are some people who need to know if their muscles are wasting away. A new wearable could one day allow them to check, when and wherever they wish.Contin… Continue reading Electric cuff could warn at-risk wearers of muscle atrophy
Although many groups are developing power-generating “smart fabrics,” the technology is often too complex to be scaled up to commercial use. Now, however, scientists have devised a simple method of embroidering electrical generators onto regular fabric… Continue reading Embroidered patches allow existing fabrics to generate electricity
Textiles have been getting smarter for years, but they’re usually fairly limited in size and scope. Now a team of scientists led by Cambridge has woven together a 46-inch textile display, loaded with LEDs, sensors and energy storage, which can be made … Continue reading Electronic textile makes for touchscreen curtains or clothes
Textiles have been getting smarter for years, but they’re usually fairly limited in size and scope. Now a team of scientists led by Cambridge has woven together a 46-inch textile display, loaded with LEDs, sensors and energy storage, which can be made … Continue reading Electronic textile makes for touchscreen curtains or clothes
When we’re hot and sweaty, we prefer cool mesh-like clothing, but otherwise … mesh just doesn’t keep us warm enough. A new dual-purpose fabric was designed with that conundrum in mind, as it features cooling vents that open upon absorbing sweat.Continu… Continue reading High-tech fabric opens cooling vents when made wet with sweat
An experimental new material could help rehabilitate the injured and allow the nonspeaking to “speak,” among other potential uses. It’s also highly elastic, electrically conductive and self-healing – and it’s known as CareGum.Continue ReadingCategory: … Continue reading “CareGum” could boost rehabilitative tech and nonverbal communications
Researchers at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) have developed a novel, high-tech form of fabric that foreshadows a future where items of clothing can”talk” to one another, and purchases might be made with a high-five or wave of the arm. It m… Continue reading Extended-range NFC fabric lets clothes “talk” to each other