Fiber Research, the big picture  cotton5 I finally managed to
get a glimpse of the big picture when it comes to fiber
research. It may seem fairly obvious now but for some reason, I
was too immersed in the A’s, G’s, T’s and C’s of the genetic
code and hunting for their patterns, that I forgot to ask the
big question: Why?  Answer: Better cotton and more of it.   In a
talk by one of my colleague’s, he laid out a bit of this for me
by describing two of the primary cotton species that are most
harvested.  The first is called Gossypium hirsutum, which is the
sometimes called Texas Maker 1 (TM-1) or Upland. It’s name comes
from “hirsute” meaning “hairy”. This cotton species has a high
yield, a definite advantage, but as the name suggests the fibers
are “hairy”, not as long and strong as other species.  Another
variety is Gossypium barbadense, or Pima, which is commonly
known as “Egyptian Cotton”.  Its fibers are longer and stronger
resulting a higher quality fabric.  However, there is
substantially less yield from