The Touch, the Feel, and Now the Heal of Cotton

Its cultivation may be ancient—dating as far back as 5,000
years ago—but cotton, and its characteristically soft, downy
fibers, could be just what modern medicine has been waiting
for.

Believed to have first been grown in the Indus Valley of
current-day Pakistan and India, cotton is a favorite fiber in terms
of its innate softness, breathability, and agronomic abundance.
Nothing wicks moisture away better on a steamy August day. No
other fabric feels as naturally smooth and airy against the skin.
And now, thanks to research done by an ARS chemist in New
Orleans, Louisiana, this fabric basic is poised to help address
one of our healthcare system’s most costly medical conditions:
debilitating chronic wounds.

Read the rest at Agricultural Research Magazine.

Clothes that will stop hemorrhages, bandages that will promote healing of pressure sores, and sheets that are absorbent and kill microbes. All of these are in development.