You might be able to repair your ripped jeans one day just be adding water, thanks to a breakthrough from Penn State researchers. Based on its earlier research on self-healing plastics , the team turned squid teeth proteins (yep) into a liquid form using yeast and bacteria, then used it to coat cotton, wool and other fabrics. If the material is torn, you just need to put the edges together, apply warm water and it magically “heals, ” as flexible and strong as before — even after being laundered. “Fashion designers use natural fibers made of proteins like wool or silk that are expensive and they are not self-healing, ” said Penn State Professor Melik C. Demirel. “We were looking for a way to make fabrics self-healing using conventional textiles. So we came up with this coating technology.” The proteins can be used to fix regular, non-coated fabrics by adding water, or applied to threads before the material is even made. The technique isn’t perfect — there are visible seams — but it’s still better, stronger and easier than any sew job I’d attempt. As the garments can be self-healed by water, throwing them in the wash would also fix small tears or other defects. It sounds great for klutzy clothes owners, but the research, supported by the US Army and Navy research arms, isn’t just aimed at consumers. Dermirel thinks the substance could be adapted to create clothing that protects soldiers, farmers or industrial workers by neutralizing toxic chemicals. “If you need to use enzymes for biological or chemical effects, you can have an encapsulated enzyme with self-healing properties degrade the toxin before it reaches the skin, ” he said. By adding anti-bacterial properties, it could also be used in medical dressings or mesh clothing to reduce infection risks. The team now needs to figure out how to create the proteins without using actual squid or their teeth, and plans to further torture-test the repaired materials. “The next step would be to see if clothes can self-repair when we pour the liquid into a washing machine, like you would a detergent, and apply water and heat, ” Demirel tells CNN . Via: Gizmodo Source: Penn State
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Squid protein makes textiles self-healing
Apple’s released iOS 8.1.2, which fixes problems with ringtones being removed from devices. That seems to be the only change in the update. You can snag it from Software Update right now. Read more… 
For years, prairie dogs have been the bane of cattle ranchers, whose livestock are routinely injured when stepping in prairie dog holes. In response, ranchers have gassed, poisoned, drowned, or buried entire colonies alive. But one enterprising pest control company has devised a more humane method of removing the rodents—with a modified sewer cleaning truck. Read more… 
The sprawling Hermitage Museum has long reigned as the world’s largest museum—but China has plans to come close to it with a huge new building for the National Art Museum of China , the design plans for which were recently released by French architect Jean Nouvel. Read more… 
The CIA’s Inspector General has asked the Justice Department to consider criminally charging CIA agents who spied on a senate committee that was engaged in writing a report that was highly critical of the CIA’s use of torture. Senator Mark Udall, who sits on a CIA oversight committee and whose staff was spied on by the CIA alleges that the CIA surveilled overseeing senators and their staff with Obama’s knowledge and consent. In a recent hearing, Senator Ron Wyden asked the CIA director repeatedly whether the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, America’s major anti-hacking statute, applied to the CIA, and whether the CIA spied domestically. CIA director John Brennan replied “yes” and “no,” respectively. If Udall’s allegations are correct, this means that Brennan lied to Congress (in the second instance) and committed a felony (in the first instance). The report that caused some CIA agents to spy on their bosses was about how the CIA was wasting time, getting nowhere and doing something illegal and cruel when it kidnapped terror suspects and tortured the shit out of them. McClatchy and the New York Times reported Wednesday that the CIA had secretly monitored computers used by committee staffers preparing the inquiry report, which is said to be scathing not only about the brutality and ineffectiveness of the agency’s interrogation techniques but deception by the CIA to Congress and policymakers about it. The CIA sharply disputes the committee’s findings. Udall, a Colorado Democrat and one of the CIA’s leading pursuers on the committee, appeared to reference that surreptitious spying on Congress, which Udall said undermined democratic principles. “As you are aware, the CIA has recently taken unprecedented action against the committee in relation to the internal CIA review and I find these actions to be incredibly troubling for the Committee’s oversight powers and for our democracy,” Udall wrote to Obama on Tuesday. Obama knew CIA secretly monitored intelligence committee, senator claims [Spencer Ackerman/The Guardian] 
George Maschke writes “In a case with serious First Amendment implications, McClatchy reports that federal prosecutors are seeking a prison sentence for Chad Dixon of Indiana, who committed the crime of teaching people how to pass or beat a lie detector test. Some of his students passed polygraphs and went on to be hired by federal agencies. A pleading filed by prosecutors all but admits that polygraph tests can be beaten. The feds have also raided and seized business records from Doug Williams, who has taught many more people how to pass or beat a polygraph over the past 30 years. Williams has not been criminally charged. I’m a co-founder of AntiPolygraph.org (we suggest using Tor to access the site) a non-profit, public interest website dedicated to exposing and ending waste, fraud, and abuse associated with the use of lie detectors. We offer a free e-book, The Lie Behind the Lie Detector (1 mb PDF) that explains how to pass a polygraph (whether or not one is telling the truth). We make this information available not to help liars beat the system, but to provide truthful people with a means of protecting themselves against the high risk of a false positive outcome. As McClatchy reported last week, I received suspicious e-mails earlier this year that seemed like an attempted entrapment. Rather than trying to criminalize teaching people how to pass a polygraph, isn’t it time our government re-evaluated its reliance on the pseudoscience of polygraphy?” Read more of this story at Slashdot. 
Reacting to user feedback, Microsoft will now allow Office 2013 owners to transfer their license from one PC to another up to once every 90 days. [Read more] 