Skip to content

Search for:

Featured Blogs
Topics
Our Substack
Follow Us!
Contribute/Contact

Textiles

Surreal illustration of a polar bear wearing a sweater

Polar bear fur-inspired fibers offer exceptional thermal insulation, tested in a sweater

Researchers from MIT and Northeastern University developed a liquid crystal elastomer fiber that can change its shape in response to thermal stimuli. The fiber, which is fully compatible with existing textile manufacturing machinery, could be used to make morphing textiles, like a jacket that becomes more insulating to keep the wearer warm when temperatures drop.

Shape-shifting fiber can produce morphing fabrics

Time series of 45° incline flame test of non-woven fabrics from the MAGIC recombinant inbred lines (RILs) with the inferior heat release capacities (HRC) and the most superior HRC. Each image is 5 seconds apart. Top series is fabric made from RIL-225, which like all untreated textiles produced from conventional cultivated white cottons, was fully consumed by flame in approximately 15 seconds. Bottom series is RIL-385, which self-extinguished.

New cotton is naturally fire resistant

Comments

Norwood johnson on Electrons in New Crystals Behave as If They Live in Four Dimensions
ScienceBlog.com on Hidden Geometry Could Finally Fix Quantum Computers
Theo Prinse on America Is Going Back to the Moon. This Time, It Plans to Stay
george w on Hidden Geometry Could Finally Fix Quantum Computers
Tom Hughes on Years of Exercise, Blood Pressure Drugs Failed to Slow Cognitive Decline in Seniors at Dementia Risk

© 2026 ScienceBlog.com | Follow our RSS / XML feed