October 11, 2021
A team of bioengineers at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering has invented a novel, soft and flexible, self-powered bioelectronic device. The technology converts human body motions, from bending an elbow to subtle movements such as a pulse on one’s wrist, into electricity that could be used to power wearable and implantable diagnostic sensors. The researchers discovered …
Researchers at Brown School of Engineering at Rice University, Houston, Texas, have successfully woven flexible carbon nanotube fibers into clothing for accurate and more comfortable heart monitoring. The lab of chemical and biomolecular engineer Matteo Pasquali reported in the American Chemical Society journal Nano Letters that it had sewed nanotube fibers into athletic wear to monitor the heart rate and …
September 27, 2021
Scientists from China’s Zhejiang University and Westlake University have created a jacket out of an experimental, reversible fabric that can both heat and cool the wearer. The multi-layered “Janus textile” consists of a base of expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) polymer fibers. When a garment made from the material is worn with the warming side facing outwards, …
September 13, 2021
Customized, biomedically applicable materials based on tropoelastin, a human protein, are being developed in a joint project by Skinomics GmbH from Halle, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg and the Fraunhofer Institute for Microstructure of Materials and Systems IMWS. The material combines biocompatibility, durability, biodegradability and favorable mechanical properties similar to those of skin. Preclinical tests have …
High-performance cycling apparel brand Sher has chosen Italian fiber manufacturer Fulgar and other textile companies as leading partners in the sector of research and sustainable development, with the goal to reduce waste in raw materials, as well as to reduce overall environmental impact. The activewear brand has produced a collection of sports apparel made with biodegradable …
August 23, 2021
A new type of shape-shifting technology modeled on ancient chainmail armor has been developed by scientists at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University and Caltech in the U.S. Described by the researchers as a type of “wearable structured fabric,” the material is able to quickly change from flexible to stiff due to carefully arranged interlocking particles. In …
North Carolina State University (NC State) researchers have created insecticide-free, mosquito-resistant clothing using textile materials they confirmed to be bite-proof in experiments with live mosquitoes. Using a computational model of their own design, they developed the materials which describes the biting behavior of the mosquito that carries viruses that cause human diseases like Zika, Dengue …
Wulala Technology Co., a Chinese startup, has found a way to commercialize and mass produce a smart glove that can translate sign language into text or audible speech. The glove is worn on the user’s right hand and is paired via Bluetooth to a subscription-based app for smartphone. It incorporates two-way bending sensors in each finger, …
August 9, 2021
Researchers at the University of California San Diego have developed a wearable technology that can hide a person from heat-detecting sensors, such as night vision goggles, adapting to temperature changes within minutes. As reported by the UC San Diego news center, the technology uses materials that can create heating or cooling effects when the ambient temperature …
Spider silk is said to be one of the strongest, toughest materials on earth. Now engineers at Washington University in St. Louis have designed amyloid silk hybrid proteins and produced them in engineered bacteria. The resulting fibers are even stronger and tougher than some natural spider silks. To be precise, the artificial silk, called “polymeric …
