Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
Carbon Nanofiber Makes Smart Yarn
Carbon nanofiber can now be spun like yarn to make an amazing variety of new inventions possible.
(From News in Science)
Among the many possibilities:
- Soft protective vests stronger than Kevlar
- Bandages that can contract to put pressure on
- Artificial muscles powered by electricity - much lighter than current hydraulics
- Would make it easier to incorporate electronic sensors and actuators into clothing.
The researchers created the yarn by growing a mat of fibres on a substrate, called a nanotube forest. A sharp, pointed instrument then pulled at the fibres along the plane of the substrate.
Atkinson said the tubes then formed into a "conga line" and were twisted and wrapped around each other as they were pulled."As long as there are fibres in the forest, you can make a yarn as long as you want. You get a very even strand," he said.
"People say how can you spin something that is one-third of a millimetre long, but it is the length-to-diameter ratio that matters. We use fibres with a 10 nanometre diameter and put in a lot of wraps."
Science fiction writer Neal Stephenson wrote about arachnofiber uniforms in his 1992 novel Snow Crash. These bulletproof and lightweight uniforms were worn by the Deliverators, the world's best pizza delivery guys.
If you are interested in how technology is producing science-fictional clothing, take a look at Scentsory Chameleon Bodysuit: Biometric Fashion. Bulletproof vests and body armor tends to be rigid - but not Liquid Body Armor in Two Flavors - Shear Thickening and Magnetorheological.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 11/22/2004)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 3 )
Related News Stories - (" Clothing ")
Don't Want To Wear A TIght Shiny Bodysuit?
'He looked a good bit like an elderly, fat beetle.' - Robert Heinlein, 1942.
'Soft Assembly' Fashions That Fashion Themselves On The Wearer
'Clothes are no longer made from dead fibers of fixed color and texture that can approximate only crudely to the vagrant human figure...' - JG Ballard, 1970.
Rigid Metallic Clothing From Science Fiction To You
'...support the interior human structure against Jupiter’s pull.' - Edmond Hamilton, 1932.
iPhone Pocket All Sold Out!
'A long, strong, slender net...' - Margaret St. Clair, 1949.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
You Will Eat The Cookies Made From Plastic...
'Our planes are going to start bringing in bales of discarded plastics...'
It's A Giant Robot! You Reporters Have Been Warned!
'... completely forgetting the ship at sight of the awesome figure and great head of the giant Gaut...'
Birds Learn To Sing Pictures ala Frank Herbert's Distrans
'We will fight in the time of fighting.'
ElectionSim: China's 'Ender's Game' Battle Sim, Or Lem's 'Kingdom In A Box'?
'So, Ender, we will now begin your education.'
Tactile Skin Supplier Map
'What strange sensitivity! What an amazing development of science was manifested in every move and act and word of this Robot!'
Flock Stymied By 'Adversarial Fashion'
'Forget the head atop it, the legs below, feet, arms, hands. It compels erasure.'
Orb Nomad Zero-Emission Electric Aircraft
'That explains how it was so easy for me to remain motionless in midair or to perch on a flagpole in imitation of a giant bird, even in the windy city of Chicago.'
ICE Buys Shock Gloves Like Batman's
What else is the Caped Crusader using?
Factories In The Sky Will Surpass Those Of Earth
'The thirty-odd miles of The Factory’s circumference...'
Sleeper Drones Lie in Wait
'Wandering mines, you took them out on the edge of the desert, set them down and activated them.'
Warfare Goes Underground In Ukraine
'Once in the very first weeks of the war, before everyone had been evacuated from the surface...'
Robot Bees 3D Printed By Festo
'At first I was struck by the large size of these bees..'
3D Printed Organs From Space
'For a while your colonists will have to come up to the [orbital] Hospital...'
DIY Robot Scorpion Crushes It
'...it raised its front end off the ground and waved its antennae at them, then raised one armoured claw as if to snip them out of the sky.'
How To Settle An Argument Between Two Robots
'Henry... assumed the curious absent look of a robot talking on the TBR circuits.'
The Wind Phone Calls Those Who Have Passed On
'Only I heard that!'
