Health aNd Fitness Guide

A loom, operated by Meghan Quirck, a graduate student at Virgina Tech, is weaving cloth that may one day be made into a shirt that could both defibrillate a heart and play MP3s. Virginia Tech electrical and computer engineering professor Mark Jones and associate professor Tom Martin lead a research team that started developing the idea six years ago.

Sensors and wires woven into the clothing would measure blood-pressure, heart-rate, body temperature and movements and relay data to a computer, cellphone or other device that could signal for help if the wearer experiences a health problem. Martin’s team has done some testing of the fabric but hasn’t yet thrown it into the wash. (Insulation around the wires is supposedly detergent-resistant.) Some other kinks to be worked out are how the fabric should respond if, for example, a wearer rolls up his sleeves, and how to allow consumers to purchase e-clothing pre-programmed for their needs.