New Technical Fabric that picks up and transmits vital data developed

Fabrics are no longer constricted to being a commodity to cover one’s body; they have slowly and steadily moved forward in the 21st century, and there is no end to what textiles can do. With technology on the increase, taking fabrics to the next level, researchers at Université Laval, have developed a new smart textile which is able to monitor and transmit the bio-medical information of anyone wearing it. Between the intricately placed cotton and wool yarns lie threads of copper, polymers, glass and silver. When entwined together, these materials create a fibre that works as a sensor and picks up information, and acts like an antennae to transmit it. The fabric is capable of collecting all kinds of data, in fact, the surface of the sensor fibre can be tweaked to measure a variety of information, including glucose levels, heartbeat, brain activity, movement and spatial coordinates. This fabric has the potential of experimenting with a number of highly useful applications.