An anonymous reader writes in with a story about MIT's work on
space suits to be used by Mars astronauts. "When we send the
first humans to Mars we will need to get the most scientific
data in the smallest amount of time while not exhausting our
astronauts in the process. Dava J. Newman has been working on a
'biosuit' that's designed to do just that....Dava’s suit would
be a huge leap forward in terms of construction as well. They’ve
enlisted the expertise of Dainese, an Italian manufacturer of
motorcycle racing 'leathers'—leather and carbon-fiber suits
designed to protect racers traveling at up to 200 mph. The suit
would be a degree safer than current space suits. While a
puncture or scrape in a traditional space suit would cause a
dramatic decrease in pressure and would be traumatic, even
deadly, the 'biosuit' could be patched with a high-tech ace
bandage. The wearer would wrap it around the punctured area to
stop the leak almost instantly. Pressure loss would be minimal
and the astronaut would be able to c