Fiber

When it comes to manmade fibers, they can typically either be strong or tough. A new material developed in part by Germany's University of Bayreuth, however, is claimed to be both.

​Metal fibers are strong, but can't be stretched very far. Rubber fibers are stretchy, but they're not very strong. Well, scientists have combined the selling points of both materials into one type of hybrid fiber. It could be used in applications such as soft robotics.

Organic cotton, hemp, bamboo and even recycled plastics are being transformed into clothing for eco-aware fashionistas. Australia's Nanollose is going an even greener route with a system that makes use of biomass waste from the coconut industry to create a plant-free fiber.​

​Kevlar may be in for some competition. Scientists at MIT have developed new polyethylene nanofibers that are both strong and tough, and that could someday be used in applications such as less-bulky body armor.

​It's no surprise to hear that many people who consume a typical Western diet don't get enough fiber. They could, of course, change their eating habits, but now they may not have to. Scientists have developed a new type of wheat that has 10 times the amount of fiber as its normal counterpart.

A new study shows that monkeys in captivity lose so much of the diversity of their natural gut microbes, that the bacteria in their digestive tracts starts resembling those of modern Western humans.

A new trans-Pacific submarine cable built by NEC with the backing of a consortium of telecom companies and Google came online Thursday. The FASTER cable connects the U.S. west coast with Japan via a six-fiber pair cable bringing 60 Terabits per second (Tbps) of bandwidth under the Pacific.

Google Fiber officially launched in its fifth American city on Wednesday, when the gigabit broadband service became available in one Nashville, Tennessee neighborhood.

By wrapping a rubber core in carbon nanotube sheets while stretched, scientists have been able to create a conducting fiber that stretches like an accordion. It could find application in exoskeleton limbs, morphing aircraft, and more.

One small internet service provider is giving Google Fiber a run for its money, but offering connections with ten times as much speed. US Internet, based in the Minneapolis suburb of Minnetonka, announced this week that it has begun rolling out 10 gigabit per second internet access.

The humble milkweed may be a weed to most, but a company out of Granby, Quebec, is milking the plant for all it’s worth by developing a product for cleaning up oil slicks on land and water from milkweed fibers.

Copper electrical wiring may soon be facing some stiff competition – or actually, some very stretchy competition. Scientists at Pennsylvania State University and Japan's Shinshu University recently created a "super-stretchable" conductive yarn made from graphene.