Scientists Turn the Everyday T-Shirt into Resilient Body Armor

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Excellent, I’ll be out fighting crime by night in no time at all. Hopefully, it will come in colors other than “boy scout blue”.

You don’t have to be the out-of-this-world kin of the Kents’ in order to slip into the wearable armor made for the red-caped crusader. By splicing the carbon in cotton with boron, researchers at the University of South Carolina have markedly increased this familiar fabric’s resiliency. With a final flexible state re-inforced with boron carbide – the same material used to shield military tanks – this design breakthrough is far from a passing fashion fad. Scientists are suggesting that this advancement signals a “conceptual change in fabricating lightweight, fuel-efficient, super-strong and ultra-tough materials” that can find application far beyond apparel to produce even lightweight cars and air-crafts.