US Army seeks nanotech suits. A new MIT institute aims to produce fabrics with morphing camouflage, that can also store energy to increase the wearer's strength [New Scientist]
Cool! While there is whole lot of "could" in this article, I think it's great that someone is finally starting to work on these technologies for the military. This means that about 10-12 years from the time that it is first deployed for the military, we'll see something similar for civillians. Probably for police and rescue workers first, with "inflatable" nanotube casts for immediate isolation of limbs that may be broken.
I seem to recall reading somewhere that armor in the middle ages was made to weigh no more than 47 pounds, as that was the most weight that someone could carry all day and still be able to get up in the morning and do it all over again. Britannica seems to differ, putting the weight of plate mail around 60 lbs. According to the above article, soldiers today are carrying somewhere in the neighborhood of 140 lbs into battle. Land Warrior [PDF] is going to add to that quite a bit. having some type of self powered armor would be great, as long as when it fails, it does not inhibit the ability of the soldier wearing to to move.
