No-iron cotton research

Cotton shirts that don’t need ironing could be a reality thanks to a project undertaken by CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency. A team of CSIRO scientists is working on a cotton with many of the properties of synthetics, such as being stretchy, non-creasing and even waterproof, while retaining its natural fiber feel. First, however, the team is working to better understand what determines the length, strength, and thickness of cotton fibers. The next generation cotton research is part of CSIRO’s Synthetic Biology Future Science Platform, a $13 million investment in science that applies engineering principles to biology.