Superhero Tights Next
Traditionally, tights are standard wear for enhanced-ability crime fighters, although they’ve been trending away from such displays ever since everyone started turning up for aerobics dressed as if they were just stopping off while waiting for the next bat-signal. In the Marvel Universe™, Mr. Fantastic, scientist and super-stretchy battler of evildoers everywhere, makes a point of providing costumes made from “unstable molecules,” whereby the clothing alters itself to suit the requirements of the wearer, thus allowing the Human Torch, for example, not to spoil his Levis with every “flame on.” Such innovations being beyond our capabilities at present, Hong Kong Polytechnic scientists have gone Alec Guinness one better by coating cotton fabric in titanium dioxide nano-particles which when exposed to light oxidize other organic matter; i.e., the clothes clean themselves. Well, o.k., they’re not clothes yet, just fabric swatches, but just imagine the various industrial interests threatened by such a development. Even if, as the article says, “a quarter of all toilet bowls . . . now come with self-cleaning nano-coatings” that would only affect a small portion of, for example, Dow’s product line. (If they’ve got them in Taiwan, though, I wonder if they’re marketed here? Do they have shower stalls and bathtubs, too? Note to self: research prior to home renovation.) Thanks to Follow Me Here.