In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that people wear masks in public. Because N95 and surgical masks are scarce and should be reserved for health care workers, ...
Bio & Medicine
Apr 24, 2020
35
11757
While easily seen by people, the cotton-ball clouds (called shallow cumulus clouds) that drift overhead on partly cloudy days are hard for radars and many other instruments to observe and, therefore, hard to model and predict. ...
Earth Sciences
Jan 15, 2019
0
27
Imagine jeans, sweats or socks that clean and de-odorize themselves when hung on a clothesline in the sun or draped on a balcony railing. Scientists are reporting development of a new cotton fabric that does clean itself ...
Materials Science
Dec 14, 2011
12
0
(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers from France, Italy and the United States are weaving cotton with transistors for a new look in computing. Based on news about a lab at Cornell University, wearable computing is getting a new twist. ...
Cotton candy machines may hold the key for making life-sized artificial livers, kidneys, bones and other essential organs.
Materials Science
Feb 8, 2016
2
3159
A small green shoot is growing on the moon in an out-of-this-world first after a cotton seed germinated on board a Chinese lunar lander, scientists said Tuesday.
Space Exploration
Jan 15, 2019
16
7158
The overabundance of fast fashion—readily available, inexpensively made clothing—has created an environmental and social justice crisis, claims a new paper from an expert on environmental health at Washington University ...
Environment
Jan 10, 2019
0
128
CSIRO scientists have confirmed the hybridisation of two of the world's major pest species, into a new and improved mega-pest.
Biotechnology
Apr 6, 2018
0
776
A new method for producing conductive cotton fabrics using graphene-based inks opens up new possibilities for flexible and wearable electronics, without the use of expensive and toxic processing steps.
Nanomaterials
Nov 25, 2016
1
1495
It's tough to love our clothes and keep wearing them for longer when we are faced with a tempting array of newness on offer in the shops. But before you head out into the January sales for those irresistible deals, spare ...
Materials Science
Jan 3, 2018
0
61
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal.
The plant is a shrub native to tropical and subtropical regions around the world, including the Americas, Africa, and India. The greatest diversity of wild cotton species is found in Mexico, followed by Australia and Africa. Cotton was independently domesticated in the Old and New Worlds. The English name derives from the Arabic (al) qutn قُطْن, which began to be used circa 1400 AD.
The fiber most often is spun into yarn or thread and used to make a soft, breathable textile. The use of cotton for fabric is known to date to prehistoric times; fragments of cotton fabric dated from 5000 BC have been excavated in Mexico and Pakistan. Although cultivated since antiquity, it was the invention of the cotton gin that so lowered the cost of production that led to its widespread use, and it is the most widely used natural fiber cloth in clothing today.
Current estimates for world production are about 25 million tonnes annually, accounting for 2.5% of the world's arable land. China is the world's largest producer of cotton, but most of this is used domestically. The United States has been the largest exporter for many years.
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA
