Exploring the World of Textiles

From expressing ourselves through fashion to protecting ourselves from the elements, textiles seem to be self-evidently significant to the human experience. But it's our goal on Tangents to always poke holes in the obvious, tear through distraction, and weave humor with knowledge - and the facts this episode will blow your cotton-poly blend socks off.

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[Truth or Fail Express]

Fabric shoe sole tariff

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/23/business/economy/columbia-sportswear-trump-trade-war.html

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-45875405

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/this-is-why-your-converse-sneakers-have-felt-on-the-bottom-6016648/

Water-soluble fiber to prove original Finnish textile

https://www.perniaspopupshop.com/encyclopedia/karnataka/mysore-silk

https://www.ksicsilk.com/Home/About

https://news.mit.edu/2023/fiber-barcodes-can-make-clothing-labels-that-last-0321

Wool Acts: burial shroud requirements

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/england-wool-burial-shrouds

https://nursingclio.org/2020/05/21/weaving-wool-into-death-burial-in-17th-century-england/

https://www.hungerfordvirtualmuseum.co.uk/?view=article&id=961&catid=10

[Trivia Question]

“Cappers Act” of 1571 in England required males to wear woolen caps

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/81552

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/minor-british-institutions-the-flat-cap-1926708.html

https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O124661/cap/cap-unknown/?print=1

[Fact Off]

Indigenous Aymara weavers and pediatric cardiologists co-created a medical textile for congenital heart defects

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2674640

https://edhub.ama-assn.org/jn-learning/video-player/16238899

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10329454/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3379209/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK470160/

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/treatment-tests-and-therapies/cardiac-catheterization

https://www.ted.com/talks/franz_freudenthal_a_new_way_to_heal_hearts_without_surgery/transcript

Creating experimental antimicrobial underwear for astronauts or space laundry machines

https://www.livescience.com/astronauts-shared-underwear-upgrade.html

https://www.cnet.com/science/astronauts-share-spacesuit-underwear-but-keeping-it-clean-is-a-challenge/

https://phys.org/news/2021-05-spacesuit-underwear.html

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2009/07/space_age_underwear_that_can_b.html

https://www.iflscience.com/space-laundry-how-will-astronauts-keep-their-underwear-clean-on-the-moon-70058

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/nasa-teams-tide-do-laundry-space-180978067/

https://apnews.com/article/laundry-wash-clothes-space-station-nasa-5a7f2795150f7dce81581cfb82cdd1f7

[Ask the Science Couch]

History of knitting machines

https://invention.si.edu/knitting-stockings-machine

http://www.nottsheritagegateway.org.uk/people/frameworkknitters.htm

Crochet vs. knit stitches

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jecATRwHQP8

https://akaspar.pages.cba.mit.edu/textiles-recitation/background.html

Crocheting hyperbolic space models

https://www.ams.org/publicoutreach/math-imagery/taimina

https://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/16/wertheim_henderson_taimina.php

https://www.theiff.org/oexhibits/oe1e.html

[Butt One More Thing]

Art project that extracted cellulose from cow manure to make a semi-synthetic fabric

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S014181302300404X

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/poop-clothing_n_58e7d6f0e4b058f0a02efa77

https://jalilaessaidi.com/cowmanure/

While you're at it, check out the Tangents crew on Twitter: Ceri: @ceriley Sam: @im_sam_schultz Hank: @hankgreen