Smart clothes, which makes use of technology to benefit the wearer, has been undergoing lots of development lately, particularly in the areas of high-performance sports, where small details can make a huge difference to an athlete.
Following this trend, MIT Media Labs’ Tangible Media Group in collaboration with MIT’s Department of Chemical Engineering have developed a fabric called “biologic” which uses bacteria as an energy source. The project uses Bacillus Subtilis, a bacteria discovered by the Japanese a long time ago in dry stalks of rice which was used to make bags to carry soybeans. Since then, this micro-organism has been used in food fermentation in the Eastern cuisine.
What scientists at MIT have discovered is that this bacteria reacts to the humidity in the environment by changing size. Therefore, the microorganisms were used to created a second-skin that, when exposed to the user’s sweat flaps open to release heat from the body. This allows the sweat to evaporate more easily and help cool the user’s body. When the heat zone dries, the bacteria reacts once more causing the flaps to close again.
To bring this technology to the sportswear market, MIT is working with sport clothing manufacturer New Balance. Check out how the Biologic fabric works in the video below.
Go to this link for the videohttps://vimeo.com/142208383
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