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Forget the Internet of Things, it’s time for the Internet of Threads. A new nonprofit founded by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and backed by more than
$300 million from the U.S. Department of Defense, apparel giants including Nike, and the state of Massachusetts aims to develop smart threads and fibers that can do anything from charge a cellphone to monitor how wounds heal. “The center and the institute is going to go anywhere fiber and fabric goes,” said Yoel Fink, an MIT professor who will lead the newly created Advanced Functional Fibers of America.