Skip to main content

The North Face’s prototype ‘Moon Parka’ coat is made of synthetic spider silk

the north faces prototype moon parka coat is made of synthetic spider silk nf1
Because it’s one of the world’s stretchiest and strongest materials, spider silk has long been considered the holy grail of textiles. If we could figure out a way to mass produce it, we could make some of the strongest ropes and farbrics the world has ever seen. The only hangup is that, so far, no one has been able to successfully harvest real spider silk — mainly because spiders are a bit competitive and will eat their rivals to stay dominant.

Related Videos

Spiber x The North Face from Spiber Inc. on Vimeo.

That’s where a Japan-based biotech firm Spiber comes in. The company has been successful in creating a manufacturing process that allows it to mass produce synthetic versions of spider silk while still keeping its attractive properties. North Face took notice of Spiber’s work, and the two companies recently collaborated on a new jacket called the “Moon Parka,” a prototype of which is now being shown at events across Japan.

Spiber uses microbes to produce the synthetic silk for the jacket. The microbes produce special proteins, which Spiber then purifies until they becomes a powder. From there, the powder is squeezed through syringes to be spun into threads, according to Popular Science.

spider silk coat

Related: Scientists add carbon nanotubes to spider silk, create ridiculously strong fibers

A total of 656 different microbe variations help to process and produce the final textile, which Spiber has dubbed Qmonos — the Japanese for spider web. By using microbes to produce Qmonos, Spiber is also addressing another chief complaint of the textile industry: its notorious pollution problem. With a microbe-centric production process, the company believes it can avoid using toxic chemicals that are harmful to the environment.

The Moon Parka is only the beginning, though. About 250 different thread types of Qmonos will be available when the textile becomes commercially available next year, Spiber says. An exact date for the release of the jacket is not yet known, but it’s expected to come out some time in 2016.

This was originally a post on our brother site, Digital Trends.

The 10 best Amazon Prime original movies to stream today
These incredible Amazon Prime original movies are worth a watch (or two)
best amazon prime original movies report

If you know anything about Amazon (and let's be honest, who doesn't), you probably know it as one of the biggest retailers in the world. As that retail business continues to grow, though, Amazon has also gotten into the streaming game in a major way. There are lots of movies on Amazon Prime movies as well as plenty of shows, but this list is focusing on the streaming films that have been produced by Amazon as a studio. Amazon clearly wants to be a dominant player in Hollywood, in addition to the dominance it already has in the world of retail, and based on this list, it's well on its way.

Because Amazon is such a new studio, all of the movies on this list are quite recent. Hopefully, that means that they feel vibrant and relevant, and will continue to hold up for years to come.

Read more
Easy, Intuitive Cleaning with DEEBOT T10 OMNI: Hey YIKO, Vacuum and Mop My Home
ECOVACS DEEBOT T10 OMNI cleaning floors

This content was produced in partnership with ECOVACS.
Picture this, you've just sat down after a hard day's work, barely have a moment of respite, and your phone rings. It's your mother-in-law and she's going to pay an impromptu visit. Before even hanging up you're wracked by a state of panic. The house is a mess. There's clutter everywhere. It will take forever to organize, vacuum, mop, clean, and get everything else done before she arrives. It's not a fun situation but let's rewind here. If you had ECOVACS' newest state-of-the-art smart vacuum and all-in-one cleaning system, the DEEBOT T10 OMNI, the situation would be barely an inconvenience.

The DEEBOT T10 OMNI has an all-in-one station that handles just about everything you'd need it to, like auto-emptying the dustbin, auto-cleaning the mop attachments, and auto-hot-air-drying the mop. It's the most advanced docking station on the market, but AI is baked into this system at nearly every touchpoint. Intuitive AI voice controls allow you to issue voice commands without moving a muscle. It could be as easy as calling out, "Okay YIKO, start cleaning here!" It knows exactly where "here" is thanks to a built-in voice locator. AI is also leveraged to prevent the spread of granular particles while it's vacuuming, so it won't make a bigger mess. Coupled with sophisticated mapping and object detection, plus a large battery, this thing will just keep going as long as it needs to. If all of that sounds like something you might need, keep reading.
Buy Now
 
The Best Features First

Read more
The best horror podcasts (listen to at your own risk)
Want a good chill? Check out the best horror podcasts of 2023
A scary sketched Frankenstein monster.

A good scary story doesn't just come to life. It takes great narrative ability and some out-there content. Fortunately, there's a podcast for just that.

Sure, we love a good music podcast, but sometimes you want that eye-opening rush otherwise known as fear. The best horror podcasts reawaken that sense and remind us that not only are humans strange, but some things are just really, really hard to explain. So as the days get a little longer and the darkness of winter subsides, hang on to a bit of that darkness with a good old-fashioned terrifying tale.

Read more