Tag: #140

Some tiny houses descend from wind turbines. Now, a German-Ukrainian team has built its own tiny trailer using recycled plastic and 3D-printing techniques. With granules from 7,500 recycled plastic bottles, reinforced by stabilising fibreglass, the prototype was printed in one piece. Ensuring the 3m x 1.85m mobile home weighed only 400kg. The kitchen is concealed towards the rear, under...

An agency represents people whose looks don’t conform. Including those with vitiligo, an auto-immune disease which causes skin discolouration. In its search for a cure, an American university team hit upon a carbohydrate compound. It was isolated from a gut-friendly bacteria called Bacillus subtilis. During an 18-week study, vitiligo-prone mice were given weekly injections of these exopolysaccharides (EPS). The...

Sawdust can replace polystyrene. Now a team led by an American design and engineering student has discovered another way to manufacture sustainable packaging material. The team mixed coffee grounds, brown rice flour, Reishi mushroom spores, xanthan gum and water to form a paste, which was 3D printed into different objects. These were then kept in a closed container for ten...

Fingerprints at crime scenes can be highlighted instantaneously. It’s equally vital to detect cancer early on. Cue an Oregon-based research team aiming to identify pancreatic cancer using 0.008 millilitres of blood. Key here: special enzymes in the blood (proteases) and illuminating (with a fluorescent agent) their increased activity when the cancer is present. In a study with 350 participants,...

A Toronto-based team is looking at environmentally-friendly ways to provide clean water. In the same city, a research team is searching for high-strength lightweight materials that could replace common metals. With the help of an algorithm developed in South Korea the team successfully optimised a carbon material on the nanoscale. The system arranged the carbon building blocks in new...

Unfolding pasta saves on packaging. Now a Finnish consortium is experimenting with different folding techniques to create a durable cardboard packaging alternative to plastic and polystyrene. Inspiration came from the Japanese Miura origami method. The team pooled its knowledge of geometry, maths, art and design, as well as materials science and mechanical engineering, to create a number of 3D...