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  "path": "/news/2026-05-year-technology-enables-sided-zipper.html",
  "publishedAt": "2026-05-04T16:00:04.000Z",
  "site": "https://techxplore.com",
  "tags": [
    "Consumer & Gadgets"
  ],
  "textContent": "In 1985, the Innovative Design Fund placed an ad in Scientific American offering up to $10,000 to support clever prototypes for clothing, home decor, and textiles. William Freeman Ph.D., then an electrical engineer at Polaroid and now an MIT professor, saw it and submitted a novel idea: a three-sided zipper. Instead of fastening pants, it'd be like a switch that seamlessly flipped chairs, tents, and purses between soft and rigid states, making them easier to pack and put together.",
  "title": "After a 40-year wait, technology finally enables three-sided zipper design"
}