The FADER called it. LA Times called it. Random blogs have called it. Just like gold and fluorescent are the new black, hypercolor clothes are about to replace acid wash jeans as the nerdiest textile. It's about time! What's more stylish than wearing micro encapsulated PH indicators?

I guess I'm kinda fashionable but I was never on top of the hypercolor fad of the 90's. If only I had realized the chemistry involved in these garments I'd probably be dressed in a hypercolor unitard through public school.

How does it work though? Gordon Nelson gives you the summary in his paper "Application of microencapsulation in textiles": 

There are two major types of colour-changing systems: thermochromatic which alter colour in response to temperature, and photochromatic which alter colour in response to UV light. Both forms of colour-change material are produced in an encapsulated form as microencapsulation helps to protect these sensitive chemicals from the external environment. Today manufacturers are able to make dyes that change colour at specific temperatures for a given application, e.g. colour changes can be initiated from the heat generated in response to human contact.

Wikipedia breaks down the science, albeit unsourced, in greater detail:

The liquid [inside the micro capsules] is a leuco form of a dye (in this case crystal violet lactone), a weak acid (1,2,3-benzotriazole), and a quaternary ammonium salt of a fatty acid (myristylammonium oleate) dissolved in a solvent (1-dodecanol). At low temperatures, the weak acid forms a colored complex with the leuco dye, interrupting the lactone ring. At high temperatures, above 24-27 °C, the solvent melts and the salt dissociates, reversibly reacts with the weak acid and increases the pH. The pH change leads to closing of the lactone ring of the dye, which then regains its colorless (leuco) form.

At least it should tie me over until the wearable computer fad comes back into style...

For some people clothing is just a formality (where's all the nudist laboratories at?). For others people clothing is an expression of ones individuality. For me it's just a clever way to draw attention away from my hideous face.

Goblin face or not, even I acknowledge that some garments are just off limits. For example, I can understand how designer sunglasses and a purple fur scarf aren't acceptable in the lab because it literally becomes a safety issue when you are that hot. Thankfully, I've prepared a list below of stylish clothing alternatives with much more nerd credibility.

We just have to accept the fact that not all of us can dress like Nobel prize winners.
 

Threadless is a democratic t-shirt company which prints shirts based on the number of votes user-submitted designs receive. But there are so many shirts these days its hard to find the sweetest and most stylish science apparel. So I decided to compile a list!

Keep in mind that a lot of these are currently sold out or only available in strange sizes but they are often reprinted so keep eyes peeled.

"Funkalicious" is one of my all-time favorites. Kieran bought this one and I printed out a giant version to put on my wall. It doesn't get much better than an astronaut bumping hot jams on his boombox with a funky rainbow trail. The real beauty of the shirt is that even though there is no propagation of sound in space the dude keeps bumping the beats likely by feeling the bass. Awesome.

What dog in its right mind would eat gross tasting homework? Maybe if you dipped the paper in bacon grease... But it's hard for a teacher to believe you without evidence. "Homework Evidence" does exactly that and reveals the truth with a canine x-ray revealing math homework and a calculator strangely floating around in the dogs internal organs. The thing is, you could definitely fake a real x-ray like this by taping your homework to the outside of your poochie without having to use any of your precious bacon grease. Thanks Threadless!

Wouldn't it be nice to colonize the moon? "Away From Home" depicts this glorious achievement complete with glow-in-the-dark stars. Unfortunately, not meaning to the bad mouth the science of all these t-shirts, it includes the all too common space blunder of showing fire in the oxygen-less vacuum of space. It's sold out anyway

Combining everyones favorite tie pattern with everyones favorite unicellular organisms, "Paisley Paramecium" is a shirt for everyone. Kieran even owns it!

"Playground Love" is the epitome of science on Threadless. It was a winner of the Seed Loves Threadless contest so you know it's cool. The winner of the contest won an ant farm, a 60gb ipod stocked with science videos, a selection of signed science books and $1500. I can't believe I didn't submit a design!

I'm not too crazy about "Lab Partners". Who would want to experiment on such cute test tube friends! I'd imagine you'd start seeing these little guys on those late nights in the lab.

I instantly bought "E=MC Escher" as soon as I saw it. The reason it's named E=MC Escher is because it's based on Escher's painting Rind. You can't go wrong when famous artists and famous scientists collide!

It would be self-deprecating for a scientist to actually wear but "Damn Scientists" is a Threadless classic so I couldn't leave it out. The shirt should be called "Damn Government" because we don't get enough science funding to make cool stuff like jetpacks!

"Tasty Table" is a nice take on the boring old periodic table which no one would want on a t-shirt. It doesn't really make sense like the periodic table though. Hydrogen is alcohol yet half the blue things are alcoholic drinks. Some of the non-metals are mixes and some aren't. And the Lanthanide/Actinide rows have been renumbered to follow the 7th period elements instead of being inserted into that little gap in the 3rd group. Technicalities aside, it's a nice shirt!

Honorable mentions also goto the following awesome sciencey shirts:

• Fractions Speak Louder Than Nerds
• Bacteria
• Le Voyage Dans La Lune
• H2O's Sacrifice