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Over multiple generations, small nematode worms began preferring microplastic-contaminated food over cleaner options, which could have consequences for ecosystem health

Over multiple generations, small nematode worms began preferring microplastic-contaminated food over cleaner options, which could have consequences for ecosystem health

'I'm trying to make it as realistic as possible, so that a modern day Scottish person could see themselves in space one day.'

"The mountaineer defies gravity; the astronomer looks up. Both seek to reach the unreachable."

3 min read

Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) This woman is wearing an Ekoï jersey made from Outlast. The phase-change materials incorporated into the fabric help the wearer stay comfortable in any temperature. Credit: Ekoï

During the Tour de France, athletes have to maintain a constant speed while bike riding for dozens of miles through cold rains and summer heat. These cyclists need gear that adapts to the different environments they encounter. One company is using a material with NASA origins to ensure these athletes stay comfortable while taking their grand tours.

Phase-change materials use basic properties of matter to maintain a steady temperature. When a substance melts from a solid to a liquid, the material absorbs heat, and when it becomes solid again, it releases that heat. In the 1980s, Triangle Research Corporation received a NASA Small Business Innovation Research award to explore how phase-change materials could be incorporated into textiles to control temperatures in spacesuit gloves. By placing phase-change materials in small capsules woven throughout a textile, these temperature-regulating properties can be tuned to the comfort of the human body. While these textiles weren’t incorporated into any gloves flown on NASA missions, they formed the basis for a new product, sold under the name Outlast.

Spacesuit gloves have to be both dexterous enough to use tools and insulating enough to protect against the temperature extremes of working in space. Working with industry, NASA explored the use of phase-change materials for these purposes, which was later commercialized under the name Outlast.Credit: NASA

Outlast has since become one of the most widely distributed temperature-regulating fabrics, found in products such as bedding, loungewear, and office chairs. It has seen especially extensive use in activewear, ranging from jogging clothes to professional sports gear. 

Founded in 2001 and based in Fréjus, France, the company Ekoï makes clothing and accessories for cyclists, particularly those who bike competitively. The company first encountered Outlast at the Performance Days fabric trade fair in Munich, Germany, and was impressed with its capabilities as well as its NASA heritage.

“When you say NASA, it’s always impressive.” said Celine Milan, director of textiles at Ekoï. “At the beginning we were even saying in here in our offices, ‘Wow, this technology was developed by NASA.’ It’s on another level.”

Ekoi’s Outlast line officially launched in July 2022, during that year’s Tour de France. Over the course of that race, the company found it improved cyclists’ performance in the event’s mountain stages, where elevation changes mean wide swings in temperature. It also improved athletes’ aerodynamics, as their jerseys could stay closed in warmer environments, rather than opening them to let in wind.

Today, Ekoï sells several products that incorporate Outlast materials, including jerseys, gloves, and socks. These products are internationally known for their NASA heritage. Whether engineering for astronaut’s comfort in space or competitive athletes, NASA aims for excellence. 

Learn more about NASA’s Spinoff Technologies: https://spinoff.nasa.gov/

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Details Last Updated Jul 18, 2025 Related Terms

• Technology Transfer & Spinoffs
• Spinoffs
• Technology Transfer

Explore More 3 min read Comet-Catching NASA Technology Enables Exotic Works of Art  Article 1 month ago 2 min read NASA Tech Gives Treadmill Users a ‘Boost’  

Creators of the original antigravity treadmill continue to advance technology with new company.

Article 2 months ago 3 min read Winners Announced in NASA’s 2025 Gateways to Blue Skies Competition Article 2 months ago Keep Exploring Discover Related Topics

Technology Transfer & Spinoffs

Humans in Space

SBIR/STTR Phase I

Solar System

3 min read

Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) This woman is wearing an Ekoï jersey made from Outlast. The phase-change materials incorporated into the fabric help the wearer stay comfortable in any temperature. Credit: Ekoï

During the Tour de France, athletes have to maintain a constant speed while bike riding for dozens of miles through cold rains and summer heat. These cyclists need gear that adapts to the different environments they encounter. One company is using a material with NASA origins to ensure these athletes stay comfortable while taking their grand tours.

Phase-change materials use basic properties of matter to maintain a steady temperature. When a substance melts from a solid to a liquid, the material absorbs heat, and when it becomes solid again, it releases that heat. In the 1980s, Triangle Research Corporation received a NASA Small Business Innovation Research award to explore how phase-change materials could be incorporated into textiles to control temperatures in spacesuit gloves. By placing phase-change materials in small capsules woven throughout a textile, these temperature-regulating properties can be tuned to the comfort of the human body. While these textiles weren’t incorporated into any gloves flown on NASA missions, they formed the basis for a new product, sold under the name Outlast.

Spacesuit gloves have to be both dexterous enough to use tools and insulating enough to protect against the temperature extremes of working in space. Working with industry, NASA explored the use of phase-change materials for these purposes, which was later commercialized under the name Outlast.Credit: NASA

Outlast has since become one of the most widely distributed temperature-regulating fabrics, found in products such as bedding, loungewear, and office chairs. It has seen especially extensive use in activewear, ranging from jogging clothes to professional sports gear. 

Founded in 2001 and based in Fréjus, France, the company Ekoï makes clothing and accessories for cyclists, particularly those who bike competitively. The company first encountered Outlast at the Performance Days fabric trade fair in Munich, Germany, and was impressed with its capabilities as well as its NASA heritage.

“When you say NASA, it’s always impressive.” said Celine Milan, director of textiles at Ekoï. “At the beginning we were even saying in here in our offices, ‘Wow, this technology was developed by NASA.’ It’s on another level.”

Ekoi’s Outlast line officially launched in July 2022, during that year’s Tour de France. Over the course of that race, the company found it improved cyclists’ performance in the event’s mountain stages, where elevation changes mean wide swings in temperature. It also improved athletes’ aerodynamics, as their jerseys could stay closed in warmer environments, rather than opening them to let in wind.

Today, Ekoï sells several products that incorporate Outlast materials, including jerseys, gloves, and socks. These products are internationally known for their NASA heritage. Whether engineering for astronaut’s comfort in space or competitive athletes, NASA aims for excellence. 

Learn more about NASA’s Spinoff Technologies: https://spinoff.nasa.gov/

Read More Share

Details Last Updated Jul 18, 2025 Related Terms

• Technology Transfer & Spinoffs
• Spinoffs
• Technology Transfer

Explore More 3 min read Comet-Catching NASA Technology Enables Exotic Works of Art  Article 1 month ago 2 min read NASA Tech Gives Treadmill Users a ‘Boost’  

Creators of the original antigravity treadmill continue to advance technology with new company.

Article 2 months ago 3 min read Winners Announced in NASA’s 2025 Gateways to Blue Skies Competition Article 2 months ago Keep Exploring Discover Related Topics

Technology Transfer & Spinoffs

Humans in Space

SBIR/STTR Phase I

Solar System

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the galaxy cluster Abell 209.

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the galaxy cluster Abell 209.ESA/Hubble & NASA, M. Postman, P. Kelly

A massive, spacetime-warping cluster of galaxies is the setting of today’s NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image. The galaxy cluster in question is Abell 209, located 2.8 billion light-years away in the constellation Cetus (the Whale).

This Hubble image of Abell 209 shows more than a hundred galaxies, but there’s more to this cluster than even Hubble’s discerning eye can see. Abell 209’s galaxies are separated by millions of light-years, and the seemingly empty space between the galaxies is filled with hot, diffuse gas that is visible only at X-ray wavelengths. An even more elusive occupant of this galaxy cluster is dark matter: a form of matter that does not interact with light. Dark matter does not absorb, reflect, or emit light, effectively making it invisible to us. Astronomers detect dark matter by its gravitational influence on normal matter. Astronomers surmise that the universe is comprised of 5% normal matter, 25% dark matter, and 70% dark energy.

Hubble observations, like the ones used to create this image, can help astronomers answer fundamental questions about our universe, including mysteries surrounding dark matter and dark energy. These investigations leverage the immense mass of a galaxy cluster, which can bend the fabric of spacetime itself and create warped and magnified images of background galaxies and stars in a process called gravitational lensing.

While this image lacks the dramatic rings that gravitational lensing can sometimes create, Abell 209 still shows subtle signs of lensing at work, in the form of streaky, slightly curved galaxies within the cluster’s golden glow. By measuring the distortion of these galaxies, astronomers can map the distribution of mass within the cluster, illuminating the underlying cloud of dark matter. This information, which Hubble’s fine resolution and sensitive instruments help to provide, is critical for testing theories of how our universe evolved.

Text Credit: ESA/Hubble

Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, M. Postman, P. Kelly

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the galaxy cluster Abell 209.ESA/Hubble & NASA, M. Postman, P. Kelly

A massive, spacetime-warping cluster of galaxies is the setting of today’s NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image. The galaxy cluster in question is Abell 209, located 2.8 billion light-years away in the constellation Cetus (the Whale).

This Hubble image of Abell 209 shows more than a hundred galaxies, but there’s more to this cluster than even Hubble’s discerning eye can see. Abell 209’s galaxies are separated by millions of light-years, and the seemingly empty space between the galaxies is filled with hot, diffuse gas that is visible only at X-ray wavelengths. An even more elusive occupant of this galaxy cluster is dark matter: a form of matter that does not interact with light. Dark matter does not absorb, reflect, or emit light, effectively making it invisible to us. Astronomers detect dark matter by its gravitational influence on normal matter. Astronomers surmise that the universe is comprised of 5% normal matter, 25% dark matter, and 70% dark energy.

Hubble observations, like the ones used to create this image, can help astronomers answer fundamental questions about our universe, including mysteries surrounding dark matter and dark energy. These investigations leverage the immense mass of a galaxy cluster, which can bend the fabric of spacetime itself and create warped and magnified images of background galaxies and stars in a process called gravitational lensing.

While this image lacks the dramatic rings that gravitational lensing can sometimes create, Abell 209 still shows subtle signs of lensing at work, in the form of streaky, slightly curved galaxies within the cluster’s golden glow. By measuring the distortion of these galaxies, astronomers can map the distribution of mass within the cluster, illuminating the underlying cloud of dark matter. This information, which Hubble’s fine resolution and sensitive instruments help to provide, is critical for testing theories of how our universe evolved.

Text Credit: ESA/Hubble

Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, M. Postman, P. Kelly

Grazing livestock and farming over the past 4000 years have rapidly accelerated the rate of soil loss in the Alps, jeopardising the ecosystem and putting the mountains at risk of further erosion

Grazing livestock and farming over the past 4000 years have rapidly accelerated the rate of soil loss in the Alps, jeopardising the ecosystem and putting the mountains at risk of further erosion

Discover why some puzzles stump supersmart AIs but are easy for humans, what this reveals about the quest for true artificial general intelligence—and why video games are the next frontier

The Expedition 73 and Axiom Mission 4 crews wrapped up their time together as science and maintenance activities continued aboard the International Space Station.

Image:

On Friday 18 July, His Excellency Christian Stocker, Federal Chancellor of Austria, visited ESA Headquarters in Paris receiving a tour of the site from Director General Josef Aschbacher.

It was the Chancellor’s first visit to an ESA establishment following his swearing in earlier this year. Visiting the Astrolabe interpretive centre, Mr Stocker saw how Austria’s participation in ESA contributes to the goals of sustainable development and scientific excellence, and also heard how commercial space has undergone rapid development in Austria. He was accompanied by the Austrian ambassador to France, Barbara Kaudel-Jensen.

Austria became ESA’s 12th Member State when it ratified the ESA Convention in December 1986 and while always strongly committed to Earth observation and space applications, Austria has recently diversified its space interests, becoming more involved in launchers, navigation and human and robotic exploration. Austrian Carmen Possnig was selected as a member of ESA’s astronaut reserve in 2022 and will commence her second phase of training in the autumn. Carmen joined the visit and enthusiastically answered questions from the assembled Austrian media.

As part of Austria's innovation community, the ESA PhiLab opened last year and has a current call for proposals open until 8 October. Just last month, Austria hosted the Living Planet Symposium, which brought together 6500 members of the Earth observation community to present scientific results and plan future activities. It was supported by a citywide 'Space in the City' festival in Vienna, organised by the Federal Ministry for Innovation, Mobility and Infrastructure (BMIMI) and Urban Innovation Vienna GmbH (UIV) and demonstrating the everyday connections between citizens and space.

Instead of the big bang, some physicists have suggested that our universe may have come from a big bounce following another universe contracting – but quantum theory could rule this out

Instead of the big bang, some physicists have suggested that our universe may have come from a big bounce following another universe contracting – but quantum theory could rule this out

Obesity could exist in many forms, which may benefit from different treatments and prevention strategies

Obesity could exist in many forms, which may benefit from different treatments and prevention strategies

A meteorite impact thousands of years ago may have triggered a landslide in the Grand Canyon and reshaped the Colorado River that runs through the national park.

Baumgartner is most well-known for breaking the sound barrier with his body during a freefall from the stratosphere in 2012.