Slashdot Mirror
UK Designer Grows Clothes From Bacteria
An anonymous reader writes "Experimental UK designer Suzanne Lee 'grows' clothes from bacteria. She has developed a method for growing clothing from yeast, a pinch of bacteria, and several cups of sweetened green tea. From this microbial soup, fibers begin to sprout and propagate, eventually resulting in thin, wet sheets of bacterial cellulose that can be molded to a dress form. As the sheets dry out, overlapping edges 'felt' together to become fused seams. When all moisture has evaporated, the fibers develop a tight-knit, papyrus-like surface."
It looks like something from Warhammer 40K, or a Hannibal Lector movie.
Aside from the novelty, this is basically just paper clothing. And paper doesn't look nearly as nasty of this stuff does. It's an interesting proof of concept, but doesn't strike me as particularly useful. Like hemp clothing, it will probably appeal to some hippie types who will like to be able to say that their clothes are made from green tea. But beyond that, not particularly useful for anything else.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
If the material is hydrated again, will it become a wet sheet again? That would make for some interesting wet T-Shirt contests....
---
Because in the post-apocalyptic future we may not have anything else to make clothing from.
"I don't care about the Constitution!" --Bill O'Reilly, November 17, 2009
Obviously, fungi-bacteria cellulose clothes is an acquired taste. It grows on you.
-- Home is where you eat your heart out.
Revenge at last.... Bacteria have been living in us for millions of years.
If we get to the point where we don't even have paper, I'd say clothing will be the least of our problems.
Personally, all I'll need in the apocalypse are shoulderpads, a mohawk, and a dune-buggy. Shirt and pants are purely optional.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Except that it's not paper, which is usually made from ground-up trees. You guys should think further than clothing. There has been a lot of talk and hype about using bacteria to synthesize useful materials. More than anything else, this little stunt demonstrates that it's slowly getting feasible.
The material in question might find some more useful application than clothing. If not, some other "biotech" material eventually will.
You'd have to ask yourself though, why are these hot women taking antibiotics in the first place?
like these? http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/071207150717.htm
Burning hot seat combined with no pants sounds like a BAD plan. (Unless you are in that sort of thing)
ah yes, optional, until you get your nadgers trapped or you're caught up by the short & curlies...
Donald 'Duck' Dunn: We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.
I can wear this in my meat house. The future is here! and it is hella gross.
Yes!
--
My comments and opinions completely reflect those of anyone and anything I am remotely associated with.
And besides that, it looks like the stuff is not dyed. Without color, I really couldn't call this clothing -- at least not in the modern sense of clothing.
8 of 13 people found this answer helpful. Did you?
Actually, the material takes dyes very easily. Suzanne's work is dyed and protected from microbial degradation by Kakishiburi which is aged, fermented juice of green persimmons, and a traditional Japanese process.
'Except that it's not paper, which is usually made from ground-up trees.'
Usually, but not always. Enjoy:
http://www.elephantdungpaper.com/process.html
What would be interesting is if the bacteria can become dormant instead of dying. Then if you get a rip or tear on the clothes you apply some nutrients to the rip and in 24 hours it regrows and fixes itself. Though i'm thinking that's quite a ways away, it would be really neat instead of throwing away clothes like we do now. That or clothes that can grow/shrink with you, or clothes that shed like skin always new.
Well, it's not clear from any of the website what the material's properties are like. Just because it's matted cellulose doesn't mean it necessarily has a stiff paper-like constitution.
Unfortunately the website isn't very helpful saying what the properties are now, and what they think they can get them to be.
(BTW, in countries with a hemp fiber industry that actually has gotten to the point of doing steam explosion and cottonization, hemp fabric and blends are not just an enviro-chic product. Much of the stuff sold here in the U.S. is behind the curve.)
Someone had to do it.
I'm just amazed that it has a pocket!
Erm... that's an orifice...do not put your hand in... oh, it seems to like it. Never mind!
,
I, for one, welcome the pants and shirtless future (unhealthy fatties won't survive, so no worries about that particular visage).
Just sunburnt wangs, that sounds like fun.
Knowledge = Power
P= W/t
t=Money
Money = Work/Knowledge so the less you know the more you make
Cause they so hot they have FEVERS ohhhhhhhhhhh
Hemp clothing is for more than just "hippies" (whoever they are). Hemp is a great fiber for textiles, which is why it was used for centuries/millennia. Synthetic fiber corps like Dupont helped create marijuana prohibition because hemp was too competitive with their new products.
Maybe only "hippies" know about that, but the fabric is for everyone. You can't smoke it.
--
make install -not war
Yes, "one can," provided "one" is not a typical slashdot poster.