Fiber

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Fiber, also spelled fibre, is a class of materials that are continuous filaments or are in discrete elongated pieces, similar to lengths of thread. They are very important in the biology of both plants and animals, for holding tissues together. Human uses for fibers are diverse. They can be spun into filaments, string or rope, used as a component of composite materials, or matted into sheets to make products such as paper or felt. Fibers are often used in the manufacture of other materials. Synthetic fibers can be produced very cheaply and in large amounts compared to natural fibers, but natural fibers enjoy some benefits, such as comfort, over their man-made counterparts.

For more information about Fiber, read the full article at Wikipedia.
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News tagged with fibers

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Breakthrough in industrial-scale nanotube processing

Breakthrough in industrial-scale nanotube processing

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Nov 02, 2009 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (23) | comments 3

(PhysOrg.com) -- Rice University scientists today unveiled a method for the industrial-scale processing of pure carbon-nanotube fibers that could lead to revolutionary advances in materials science, power ...


Physical chemist imitates structures found in nature

Physical chemist imitates structures found in nature

Chemistry /

created Dec 05, 2008 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (21) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- As a graduate student, Harvard physical chemist Joanna Aizenberg acquired a passionate curiosity about — of all things — sponges. She particularly liked the ones made of glass, whose apparent ...


Silicon optical fiber made practical

Physics / General Physics

created Oct 28, 2008 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (18) | comments 0

Scientists at Clemson University for the first time have been able to make a practical optical fiber with a silicon core, according to a new paper published in the current issue of the Optical Society's open-access journal, ...


Researcher: Faint writing seen on Shroud of Turin (AP)

Researcher: Faint writing seen on Shroud of Turin (Update)

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Nov 20, 2009 | popularity 2.2 / 5 (37) | comments 96

(AP) -- A Vatican researcher has rekindled the age-old debate over the Shroud of Turin, saying that faint writing on the linen proves it was the burial cloth of Jesus. Experts say the historian may be reading ...


Carbon Nanotubes Toughen a Common Plastic

Carbon Nanotubes Toughen a Common Plastic

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Apr 07, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (19) | comments 2

(PhysOrg.com) -- A research group from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel has discovered that adding carbon nanotubes to a widely used commercial plastic can greatly strengthen it. Their work is one ...


Proteins

Spinning natural proteins into fabrics for new wound-repair products

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Oct 20, 2008 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (16) | comments 1

Scientists in Israel are reporting the first successful spinning of a key natural protein into strong nano-sized fibers about 1/50,000th the width of a human hair. The advance could lead to a new generation ...


Italian group claims to debunk Shroud of Turin (AP)

Italian group claims to debunk Shroud of Turin (Update)

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Oct 05, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (12) | comments 0

(AP) -- Scientists have reproduced the Shroud of Turin - revered as the cloth that covered Jesus in the tomb - and say the experiment proves the relic was man-made, a group of Italian debunkers claimed Monday.


'Flexible camera' replaces lens with fiber web

'Flexible camera' replaces lens with fiber web

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Jul 07, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (12) | comments 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- Imagine a soldier's uniform made of a special fabric that allows him to look in all directions and identify threats that are to his side or even behind him. In work that could turn such science ...


Feather fibers fluff up hydrogen storage capacity

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Jun 23, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (12) | comments 15

Scientists in Delaware say they have developed a new hydrogen storage method -- carbonized chicken feather fibers -- that can hold vast amounts of hydrogen, a promising but difficult to corral fuel source, and do it at a ...


Oldest-known fibers to be used by humans discovered

Archaeologists discover oldest-known fiber materials used by early humans

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Sep 10, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (11) | comments 3

(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of archaeologists and paleobiologists has discovered flax fibers that are more than 34,000 years old, making them the oldest fibers known to have been used by humans. The fibers, discovered ...


Study shows how carbon nanotubes can affect lining of the lungs

Study shows how carbon nanotubes can affect lining of the lungs

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

created Oct 25, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (10) | comments 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- Carbon nanotubes are being considered for use in everything from sports equipment to medical applications, but a great deal remains unknown about whether these materials cause respiratory ...


Rogue Wave

Engineers ride 'rogue' laser waves to build better light sources

Physics / Optics & Photonics

created Mar 05, 2009 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (11) | comments 2

A freak wave at sea is a terrifying sight. Seven stories tall, wildly unpredictable, and incredibly destructive, such waves have been known to emerge from calm waters and swallow ships whole. But rogue waves ...


'Nanostitching' could strengthen airplane skins, more

'Nanostitching' could strengthen airplane skins, more

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Mar 04, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (9) | comments 2

MIT engineers are using carbon nanotubes only billionths of a meter thick to stitch together aerospace materials in work that could make airplane skins and other products some 10 times stronger at a nominal ...


Chemists create two-armed nanorobotic device to maneuver world's tiniest particles

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Feb 15, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (8) | comments 0

Chemists at New York University and China's Nanjing University have developed a two-armed nanorobotic device that can manipulate molecules within a device built from DNA. The device is described in the latest issue of the ...


Scientists unveil chocolate-fueled race car (AP)

Scientists unveil chocolate-fueled race car

Technology / Energy

created May 05, 2009 | popularity 3.9 / 5 (9) | comments 3

(AP) -- Scientists unveiled on Tuesday what they hope will be one of the world's fastest biofuel vehicles, powered by waste from chocolate factories and made partly from plant fibers.