I've been catching up on Tom's Science News magazines.
Two of the articles in the Feb 27 issue were of particular interest to me.
In the late 1800s, Santiago Ramón y Cajal, a Spanish brain scientist, spent long hours in his attic drawing elaborate cells. His careful, solitary work helped reveal individual cells of the brain that together create wider networks. For those insights, Cajal received a Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine in 1906. Now, a group of embroiderers has traced those iconic cell images with thread, paying tribute to the pioneering drawings that helped us see the brain clearly.
The other was about knitting - as it relates to physics!
There are two types of stitches (knit and purl) which can be combined into a hundred or so basic patterns. By varying stitch combinations within patterns, a knitter can alter the elasticity, mechanical strength and 3-D structure of the resulting fabric. Yarn on its own isn’t very elastic. But when knitted, the yarn gives rise to fabric that can stretch by more than twice its length while the yarn itself barely stretches.
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