New polymer allows fishing line to change colours if stressed

Case Western University researchers have developed a polymer which will cause line to glow different colours under UV, depending on how much stress it has had:

Nylon fishing line is designed to have some stretch. But pull on it too hard - when fighting a large fish, for example, or trying to get loose from a snag - and it can reach the point of “non-recoverable deformation” at which it becomes seriously weakened.

Here’s the new polymer info:

a type of polymer called a phenylene vinylene oligomer, which fluoresces under ultraviolet light. Crucially, the colour of the light it gives off changes depending on the mechanical stress the molecule has been subjected to.

So, hopefully the next time you hook the big one, it won’t snap off on you