Shu-Hong Yu, professor of chemistry at the University of Science and Technology of China and co-author of the paper titled Biomimetic Carbon Tube Aerogel Enables Super-Elasticity and Thermal Insulation published in the journal Chem, writes, “Polar bear hair has been evolutionarily optimized to help prevent heat loss in cold and humid conditions, which makes it an excellent model for a synthetic heat insulator." 

The Chinese researchers have experimented with creating hair-sized hollow carbon fiber tubes that can be spun into larger configurations called "aerogel blocks." These "blocks" can then be used as building-scale industrial materials, potentially as surface finishes or insulating material. The resulting material has been found to be not only lighter in weight than other aerogels, but can also function to repel water, retain heat, and stretch into flexible configurations, Earth.com reports. 

Professor Yu added, “By making tube aerogel out of carbon tubes, we can design an analogous elastic and lightweight material that traps heat without degrading noticeably over its lifetime.”

With global building decarbonization efforts likely to transform and disrupt conventional building enclosure and insulation approaches, is a world of fuzzy buildings on the horizon? Let's hope so.