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Zetix is a fabric so strong it will resist multiple car bomb blasts without breaking. It absorbs and disperses the energy from explosions thanks to an inner structure so adamantiumtastic it can be used in body armor, window covering, military tents and hurricane defenses—it might even be able to fend off my ex-wife. When not shielding from explosions, it can be used as medical sutures that won't damage body tissue. All of this is thanks to a property that apparently defies the laws of physics: Zetix is built around the principle of auxetics: objects that actually get fatter the more...

Roger Highfield describes a heroic mathematical enterprise that could lay bare the fundamentals of the cosmosMathematicians have successfully scaled their equivalent of Mount Everest. Today they unveil the answer to a problem that, if written out in tiny print, would cover an area the size of Manhattan. At the most basic level, the calculation is an arcane investigation of symmetry – in this case of an object that is 57 dimensional, rather than the usual three dimensional ones that we are familiar with. Although this object was first discovered in the 19th century. there is evidence that it could contain...

Help save our fabric source!click here for petitionI make lap quilts for the VA Hospital spinal cord unit. in Memphis and Wal-Mart is the only source of fabric in Millington, TN...as a widow my income is very limited I can't afford to drive 20-30 minutes to the next 2 sources and pay $2.00 more per yard for fabric. Quilting is my only hobby. I've made 10 lap quilts so far this year for the VA Hospital spinal cord unit.For many rural women Wal-Mart is the ONLY source available for fabric. Better yet call 800 Wal Mart and talk to a...

SAN FRANCISCO--Intel is trying to see if millions of tiny robots can work together to create a coffee cup, or a model of a truck. Intel's lab in Pittsburgh, affiliated with Carnegie Mellon University, is showing off a technology concept at the Intel Developer Forum here this week called Dynamic Physical Rendering, which could ultimately lead to a shape-shifting fabric.Apply the right voltage and software program and the flat piece of fabric turns into a 3D model of a car. Change those parameters and it transforms into a cube. Dynamic Physical Rendering has grown out of the ongoing Claytronics project...

Secret smoker, 14, chokes on fabric deodorant fumes By Richard Savill (Filed: 10/05/2005) A schoolgirl has died after spraying herself with a fabric deodorant in the bathroom of her family home to hide the smell of cigarettes. Helen Coffey, 14, who had been smoking in the bathroom, collapsed as she used a can of Deofab to spray her clothes. She died a week later in hospital. Her family said the aerosol spray in the confined space had made her choke and caused a haemorrhage in her throat. Her mother, Agnes, 46, said: "She sprayed it all over her clothes, the...

LOWELL -- Last year when Cindy Kryston called city cultural leaders together to discuss Lowell National Historical Park's financial distress, she got a lot of support from Mike Smith. Smith, American Textile History Museum president, told Kryston, the national park's acting superintendent at the time, the park wasn't alone as it battled decreasing visitation, reduced funding and budget deficits. He wasn't kidding. Smith is in the fight of his 34-year professional life to keep the museum solvent, and, hopefully, in Lowell. The museum currently has a $600,000 operating deficit. Its budget has been reduced from about $2.5 million in 1997...

New fabric will block radiation rays - claim November 13 2002 at 03:12PM London - Scientists have created what is claimed to be the world's first radiation-proof fabric which provides as much protection as a lead vest but at a fraction of the weight. Instead of heavy metals to block radiation and X-rays, the new fabric called Demron is non-toxic, lead-free and fused between two layers of woven fabric. "Demron's potential applications range from lightweight full-body suits, that would allow the wearer to move unencumbered in high-radiation areas, to protective tents and radiation-proof linings for aircraft and spacecraft," New Scientist...

Quantum wormholes could carry people   18:10 23 May 02   Exclusive from New Scientist Print Edition   All around us are tiny doors that lead to the rest of the Universe. Predicted by Einstein's equations, these quantum wormholes offer a faster-than-light short cut to the rest of the cosmos - at least in principle. Now physicists believe they could open these doors wide enough to allow someone to travel through. Quantum wormholes are thought to be much smaller than even protons and electrons, and until now no one has modelled what happens when something passes through one. So Sean Hayward at...