Fashion

Note to all you slightly obsessed folks out there who are into tracking your quantified self: isn't it about time you started keeping track of not just all the calories you inhale, but the air pollution as well?

The prototype for just such a device, dubbed Conscious Clothing, and the trio of designers who created it, were awarded $100,000 this week as part of an innovation challenge sponsored by (deep breath) the National Institutes of Health, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The system is described as a "wearable breathing analysis tool" made up of sensors and strips of material wrapped around the chest to measure breathing volume. It calculates the particulate matter inhaled and transmits real-time data via Bluetooth, making it a perfect addition to any self data-tracking regime. … Read more

Though steampunk tends to mind a retro vein, it goes surprisingly well with the aesthetics of the "Star Wars" universe. This was already proven with the marvelous steampunk AT-AT. Epbot reader May B. delves into the look for an unusual, and somewhat creepy, version of a Darth Vader costume.

May B.'s concept starts with a Victorian mourning dress, a shiny black number full of intricate patterns, topped off with a black hat with a veil running down the back. Steampunk goggles (a requirement pretty much) are integrated into a Darth Vader mask topped with a filigreed silver detail.… Read more

Most of us spend our lives sliding on a scale between impossible and gullible.

We're sometimes persuaded so easily, yet, at others, even the most accepted pieces of information can't penetrate our obstinacy.

No, I'm not thinking about global warming, Sharon Stone, or the New York Yankees. I'm musing on this supposed iWatch that Apple may or may not ever create, produce, market or give away as a free gift at Christmas with the purchase of two pink iPhones.

In his epically stoic performance at D11, Apple CEO Tim Cook offered that while Google Glass was &… Read more

There have been plenty of far-out theories about otherworldly alien visitations of the ancient Egyptians, especially those involving aliens building the pyramids. That's all a load of bunk, but at least now we have a real scientist-approved story involving ancient Egyptians and objects from space.

Strings of unusual iron beads were excavated from a burial site near Cairo in 1911. The beads date back to around 3300 BCE. It took more than 100 years for scientists to conclusively sort out what they are made from. As it turns out, they are fashioned from meteorites.… Read more

From Google Glass to the Pebble smartwatch, wearable tech is where it's at. The curved-screen EmoPulse Smile is a smartphone, smartwatch, and digital companion wrapped into one chunky wrist bracelet. It will be interesting to see if it can successfully get off the ground thanks to an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign.

There's no Android versus iOS battle here. The Smile actually runs on Linux. That may put it at a disadvantage as far as app stores go, but it does give EmoPulse leeway to develop a custom system to try to carry out some ambitious features. The company is working on creating a device that learns what movies you like, monitors your sleep, and interacts with you with a personality meant to out-Siri Siri.… Read more

Spider silk is about four or five times stronger than steel, but it is remarkably lightweight. So, what would it feel like to walk around in a suit woven of the stuff?

Spiber, a startup in northern Japan, is showing off a dress made from synthetic spider silk. The firm is one of several groups looking into how to make and use artificial spider silk, a task that has proven to be very challenging for scientists.

The electric-blue dress was created from a material Spiber calls Qmonos (from kumonosu, or "spider web," in Japanese). The material is extremely strong and more flexible than nylon. … Read more

Engineer Ben Kokes is a lot of things. He's an outdoor enthusiast. He's a Bronco mechanic. He's a tinkerer who builds electronic gadgets for fun. He's also in love.

I'll let him tell his story in his own words: "Once upon a time, a boy met a girl. Then a short amount of time later, the boy decided to design and build a ring for the girl, because doing things in the most complicated way possible is just what he does to show the love." To that end, Kokes made a ring. But not just any ring. It's a titanium ring with internal illumination.… Read more

Biomedical engineers are unveiling a new type of fabric that, much like human skin, can turn excess sweat into droplets that simply fall away on their own accord.

"We intentionally did not use any fancy microfabrication techniques so it is compatible with the textile manufacturing process and very easy to scale up," said Siyuan Xing in a school news release. Xing is the lead biomedical engineering student on the project at the University of California, Davis.

An article in the journal Lab on a Chip describes the fabric's microfluidic platform. Multiple woven threads suck droplets of water … Read more

Dano's iHeart Locket takes the wearable technology trend and makes it cute. The smart necklace works with the iPad to lock down digital diary entries and keep secret crushes and innermost thoughts safe from prying eyes.

The gold heart necklace, designed with preteens and teens in mind, works with the iHeart Locket Diary App for iOS. The diary app holds text, pictures, speech-to-text audio, and written notes, making it more of a digital scrapbook than a simple journal.… Read more