Just add heat: Researchers create style-changing dress

June 1, 2024  |  Swatches

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Self-Assembly Lab have created prototypes of a 4D knit dress that can change style using heat.
Researchers investigate nanoplastics

June 1, 2024  |  Swatches

Researchers at the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa) have taken the study of microplastics to the next level—nanoplastics.
Coating for textiles reduces growth of bacteria, viruses

June 1, 2024  |  Swatches

Researchers at Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa), BASF, Spiez Laboratory and the Technical University of Berlin have created an antimicrobial coating for textiles that reduces or kills viruses and bacteria.
Sustainable 3D-printed fashion created with biomaterial

June 1, 2024  |  Swatches

3D-printed fashion allows for personalization and on-demand production, but it can be difficult to source sustainable materials. Balena, a materials science company based in Italy, and 3D fashion designer Brigitte Kock, founder of the studio Variable Seams, have tackled this problem using Balena’s…
Vollebak jacket changes color depending on type of light

June 1, 2024  |  Swatches

Vollebak materials scientists have developed a coat that changes color based on ambient lighting, going from orange in bright sunlight to glowing “kryptonite” green at night after being charged with a bright flashlight or car headlights.
Spider silk created from artificial gland

June 1, 2024  |  Swatches

Researchers at the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science in Japan and the RIKEN Pioneering Research Cluster took a biomimicry approach to creating artificial spider silk. Their approach worked with microfluidics, or the manipulation of fluid through narrow channels, such as happens in a spid…
Continuous light with solar-powered lanterns

June 1, 2024  |  Swatches

Solight Design Inc. makes solar-powered inflatable lanterns, providing campers and backpackers with hours of continuous light without batteries.
New material debuts in dry bags

June 1, 2024  |  Swatches

After two years of development and a third year of testing, Watershed Drybags of Asheville, N.C., has released bags made of a new proprietary material, Kryptothane™ Plus.
Smart gloves help researchers study strokes

June 1, 2024  |  Swatches

A smart glove undergoing testing with stroke survivors could also one day have applications in robotics, sign language translation, animation and augmented reality. University of British Columbia (UBC) researchers developed the MarsWear smart glove that tracks hand and finger movement and grasping …
Baseball complex is repeat business for Signature Structures

June 1, 2024  |  Projects

Spring means the start of baseball season, and in March, Dexter Southfield School in Brookline, Mass., opened its new indoor baseball and softball practice facility, thanks to work done by Signature Structures LLC of Easton, Pa. The company partnered with Dellbrook/JKS as general contractor and ARC/…