Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

A flame dies out when it meets self-extinguishing cotton

Genetic variants that confer fire resistance could replace the artificial flame retardants currently added to textiles.
Composite of ten time series images of a flame test on two fabrics, taken five seconds apart

A conventional cotton fabric (top row) was consumed by fire in 15 seconds, but the flames could not take hold in a fabric made from specially bred cotton (bottom row). Credit: G. N. Thyssen et al./PLoS ONE

New lines of white-cotton plant produce a fabric that doesn’t burn. When the fabric is set alight, the flames extinguish on their own — a trait previously observed only in textiles made from cotton plants that produce brown fibres1.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 613, 614 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-00071-8

References

  1. Thyssen, G. N. et al. PLoS ONE 18, e0278696 (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links