The "Smart ePants" moniker is not original to me. I first heard it via IARPA (like DARPA but for intelligence agencies).
And from Horizons (the Swiss Research Magazine), April 9, 2025:
Whether it’s for firefighters struggling through smoke or for skiers out on a tour of a sun-drenched summit: researchers and start-ups are pimping out special clothing with smart systems and innovative materials to suit all manner of activities. We take a look at some very special fabrics.
Cosy and warm, down to your fingertips
qCella is developing heatable paper mats with copper fibres for use in gloves and shoesWe often heat whole rooms to keep ourselves warm. “And yet it would be far more efficient to heat just the area near us, or to heat ourselves directly”, says Murielle Schreck. She’s a materials scientist and the co-founder of the start-up qCella, together with Fabian Schmid and Weyde Lin.
While she was completing her doctorate at ETH Zurich, she developed a thin paper mat impregnated with copper fibres that can be heated using electricity. When incorporated in shoes or gloves, it warms your feet and hands. Natural cellulose fibres made from wood, hemp or cotton are all hollow on the inside. So qCella first impregnates these fibres with copper using a wet chemical process. The copper ions migrate into the fibres and grow into particles in their cellulose network. “You can think of it like a little cellulose tube filled with copper particles”, says Schreck. “Paper made from these filled fibres heats up when electricity runs through it”.
This paper is less than a millimetre thin and is laminated to protect it from moisture. The paper heating mat is very flexible and can be cut exactly to the required size. In gloves, for example, it’s used to line the palm and fingertips; in ski boots it’s used in the soles, the area around the toes and at the ankle. When compared to conventional systems with thin heating wires, says Schreck, their invention saves energy.
A history of gait
Physilog is using motion sensors to make close observations of patients’ gait in rehab.Over the course of their lifetime, a healthy adult will walk an average of 200 million steps. And at every stage of our lives, we change how we walk. Ten years ago, researchers from the Lausanne-based Physilog Census platform began recording people’s gait in order to identify digital biomarkers. They use standardised tests to collect information by means of intelligent, 3D inertial sensors. For example, they record how quickly we stand up from a chair, the angle at which we put down our feet, the duration of our contact with the ground when walking, and how long it takes us to change direction. Young people walk differently from old people, sick people from healthy....
....MUCH MORE
If interested, here are some of our IARPA links.
Also if interested, and who wouldn't be, textiles in all their glory (industrial revolution, no more ugly naked guy, language, Berkshire Hathaway etc.):
- "Historians Find Evidence of Recycling in Tudor Times" (but what about re-gifting?)
- "Warren Buffett: Buying Berkshire Hathaway Was $200 Billion Blunder" (BRK.B; BRK.A)
- "What if the need for fabric, not food, in the face of a changing climate is what first tipped humanity towards agriculture?"
- Intellectual Property: "Piracy and Fraud Propelled the U.S. Industrial Revolution"
- Fellow Luddites! To The Looms!!! (or the spinning jennys, or...)
- When “Cottonopolis” Was One of the Ten Largest Cities on the Planet: Manchester After Engels
- "Anti-Surveillance Clothing Aims to Hide Wearers From Facial Recognition "
- "Four Thousand Years Ago, Textile Traders Invented a Basic Social Technology: Mass Literacy"
- "How Bills of Exchange Went from a Way to Bring Textile Proceeds Home to the 'Foundation of Modern Commercial Banking'"
- I Need A Yak
- "....The Invention And Evolution Of Apparel In The World's Colder Climates."
Continuing our pivot to fashion with the hope of garnering a Dolce & Gabbana sponsorship.
And many, many more.
