Magnetic Cotton? Researchers Grow Smart Materials with "Bio-fabrication" Technique

What do the most basic t-shirts have in common with cutting-edge fabric that can detect and neutralize nerve gas? The answer is cotton, "the fabric of our lives" as it's called by the U.S. industry. Cotton is one of the most promising fabrics for applications in wearable "smart materials", such as clothing that responds to changes in temperature, harnesses motion to power electronics, is highly-visible, or monitors body functions.Creating smart materials requires instilling cotton or similar fab...