End of needle and thread? Scientists add squid tentacles to clothes so they heal themselves when they get torn or ripped

Make do and mend has long been a mantra about patching up clothes when they're torn and worn - but it could soon become obsolete, as scientists are working on making clothes self-mending.
In what could be the ultimate aid for parents whose children constantly return home with ripped clothing, the revolutionary breakthrough has seen experts develope a textile that can 'heal' itself.
Ripped trousers or a torn shirt usually means getting out a needle and thread or even clothing just being thrown out.

But in future rips in cotton, linen and wool could simply be fixed by firmly pressing the two torn parts together.
Experts in the US have found that by infusing clothing with proteins from teeth from squid tentacles, tears can heal themselves.For years scientists have been working on self-repairing films that could be placed on to products to boost their lifetime.


One approach has been to coat surfaces with multiple layers of electrolytes of opposite charges.
When scratched, these molecules diffuse through the film toward the defect and repair it, usually with the help of a little water or a dilute saline solution.
But while existing coatings can work quickly, they are often limited. For example, some types crack under warm, dry conditions.
So a team from Pennsylvania State University set out to find a better material to use.

 The researchers incorporated proteins from squid ring teeth in their coating. These proteins - extracted from suction cups on squid tentacles - are tough and elastic under both wet and dry conditions.
When pressed together in water, cut pieces of cloth that had been dipped in the new coating reattached.
In addition to having applications for everyday self-healing clothing, the researchers say the substance could be used as a "second skin" barrier that would protect wearers from chemical and biological warfare agents.

The study authors reported: "Squid ring teeth hold great promise to provide a broad range of solutions for textile applications due to their ability to self-heal.
"As the cost of production for industrial biotechnology products continues to fall, such self-healing films become increasingly feasible and sustainable for large-scale production."
The findings are published in the American Chemical Society journal Applied Materials and Interfaces.