Â鶹´«Ã½

IT COULD pass as a piece of contemporary art. In fact it’s the US army’s latest idea for protecting its soldiers from biological and chemical weapons. The image (unfortunately only available in the print edition of Â鶹´«Ã½) shows a face mask being created out of fibres less than a micrometre thick, producing something more like a membrane than a fabric. It is seamless and microporous: it allows water vapour to pass through, but stops small particles and liquids. In other words, it acts as an aerosol barrier while allowing the wearer’s skin to “breathe”.

The mask was made at…