If the weather ever grows colder (it is the first day of fall, after all), Arizona residents will reach for their jackets to keep warm. As technology allows things to get smaller and textiles to be more versatile, jackets now can keep us not only warm, but also safe and invisible.
Around the ASU campus, drivers from all across the country mix en masse. Few drivers of full-sized vehicles realize how much space to give to motorcycles when driving and changing lanes. This endangers motorcyclists who ride to work and college every day. They need more protection than leather jackets provide, and companies are listening.
ABC News reports that Dainese, an Italian protective clothing maker, has developed a vest that functions as an air bag. A tiny computer mounted on the motorcycle constantly communicates with the vest and causes it to quickly inflate during a head-on collision.
The battery-powered computer on the motorcycle monitors the physical motion and notifies the rider when to recharge it. In the event of a sudden change of motion, during a crash for example, the computer signals the three-chambered vest to inflate with compressed carbon dioxide gas and support the chest, back and neck. The vest remains inflated for 20 seconds to prevent additional injury from bouncing in a busy street.
This vest costs about $1,000, but is not yet available in the United States. Perhaps when the government gets around to creating standards for this technology, I'll become a biker babe. Until then, I'm stuck at home watching Bush pour millions of dollars into making the world safe from terrorists who blend into the background of American citizens.
The invisible terrorists might have been wearing optical camouflage jackets. The jackets snap images of the scene behind a person and project them onto the front of the jacket, making the wearer essentially transparent.
The initial research was done at Tokyo University, but the developing technology has widespread applications from the commercial to the military sectors. It reminds me of the Predator, where the camouflaged creature is invisible to the soldiers and picks them off one by one. But here in the states, we women can do even better: If a predator, invisible or otherwise, touches us, we can zap him with 80,000 volts of electricity from a simple 9-volt battery.
The No-Contact Jacket looks like a sleek women's jacket but has an inner layer of Aracon, conductive fibers that shock anyone who touches the wearer. The charge is produced through step-up circuitry after a lock on the sleeve is opened and a button is held down inside one of the sleeves. In this way, the jacket is charged only when the woman feels threatened. Small slits in the outer layer show the electric arcs of the middle later and the garment crackles audibly, serving as a further warning against attackers.
While pepper sprays and handguns may deter rapists, there is always a chance of the spray being blown into the woman's eyes accidentally or the handgun being used against her. With the No-Contact Jacket, there is no danger. A rubber lining protects the woman from accidental shock and an outer nylon layer makes the coat both waterproof and stylish.
Despite concerns of liability, if the use of this $1,000 jacket prevents one assault against even one woman, it has my two thumbs up. If the latest reported hikes in campus car theft are any indication, I'll take my chances with the jacket over ASU security any day.
Audra Baker is a journalism and biology senior. Reach her at audra.baker@asu.edu.
