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Researchers in Australia have discovered a substance that will make the condoms not only much thinner but also the strongest. The material used is spinifex grass, a plant that grows in the sand dunes of Australia. This grass is first processed to become a pulp then added to latex.

A team of researchers from the University of Queensland, led by Professor Darren Martin, will release more details about this condom later this year. The commercial tests so far have been proven successful and the resultant condom is only 45 microns thick, as much as a human hair. "We tested our latex formulation on a commercial dipping line in the United States and conducted a burst test that inflates condoms and measures the volume and pressure, and on average got a performance increase of 20 percent in pressure and 40 percent in volume compared to the commercial latex control sample," he said. Despite their success, the scientists believe that they can make the product better, as reported by RT.com

"With a little more refinement, we think we can engineer a latex condom that's about 30 percent thinner, and will still pass all standards, and with more process optimization work we will be able to make devices even thinner than this," Professor Martin said in the official press release by the University of Queensland, reports Australia Network

The team also took help of Indjalandji-Dhidhanu, the indigenous people, to procure the nanocellulose from grass. "The great thing about our nanocellulose is that it's a flexible nano-additive, so we can make a stronger and thinner membrane that is supple and flexible, which is the Holy Grail for natural rubber," Professor Martin said.

The condom will not only be increasingly sensitive but its production will also use lesser material which will make it cost less. These factors can encourage people to use condoms moe that can help fight against the sexually-transmitted diseases, says Gizmag