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TO SOUP up your bulletproof vest, why not make it antibacterial, too? Jie Luo and Yuyu Sun of the University of South Dakota in Vermillion have done just that, using a molecule called polymethacrylamide (PMAA).

The pair dipped Kevlar fabric – used in fire-retardant clothing and bulletproof vests – in a solution of PMAA and baked it at 110 °C. Next they washed the coated fabric in a mild bleach, where the chlorine atoms converted the ends of the PMAA molecules into N-halamines, which kill many pathogens.

The fabric retained Kevlar’s toughness and thermal properties, and killed off E. coli and staphylococcus, a virus called MS2, the fungus candida, and bacillus spores (Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research, ).

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