Tag: Animals

Coffee grounds make for stronger cement. Other types of waste are increasingly popular too. (Using wine residue?) a Toronto-based startup is extracting nanocrystals from chitin, which is found in crab, shrimp and lobster shells. With a formula containing just 1% of chitin nanocrystal, the team has created a sustainable packaging film. A single-layer solution without chemical glue, it can...

Some glasses automatically adjust focus between near and distant objects. Many birds can see for miles while still recognising their immediate environment. Their retinas have a deep hollow, meaning they are more sensitive to light. With an additional fourth photoreceptor, they can also perceive blue, red, green and UV light. Inspired by this phenomenon, a Korean research team has...

Animals don’t have to die for exotic leather products. It is, however, perfectly legal to use tusks from extinct mammoths for making luxury wood carvings, chess figures or jewellery. Since this type of ivory is mostly extracted from permafrost regions or near Polar seas, many elephants fall victim to the illegal ivory trade. It is impossible to make out...

Jellyfish could come in handy at crime scenes. Another marine creature has inspired a British research team currently developing a gripper for objects with dry, complex surfaces. The secret to an octopus’s tight grip is that it fills the tiny gaps between its suction cups and an uneven surface with mucus. Information the team used to build a pneumatically-driven...

Beer can be brewed from industrial wastewater. Now a research team from Singapore is using the wastewater from soybean production to create sustainable feed for fish farming. Usually, feed is made from wild-caught fish (sometimes very wild-caught indeed!). The team cultivated a single-cell protein in a bioreactor over four months at 30°C using the protein-rich wastewater and the micro-organisms...

Modern tests for mosquito sprays use an artificial hydrogel skin. The effectiveness of new medication, meanwhile, can be analysed without harming animals. But animal testing hasn’t gone away. Enter a US-based Non-Profit-Organisation which has acquired an entire testing facility in Oklahoma, sparing 200 cats and dogs from further experimentation. The labs on the 120,000 square metre property were formerly...

Fish remains are a good source of bioplastics. Jellyfish, meanwhile, could soon be an unlikely ally for police officers up and down the country. All thanks to Chinese-British researchers who have discovered that a fluorescent protein contained in the slimy sea-dwellers could be a big help at crime scenes. The protein binds with negatively-charged molecules in the grease and...

The sound of cats purring - also from the internet - can bring inner peace. So too a walk with "man’s best friend" - even one on prosthetic legs. Now, a team of US researchers is working on a quick, pain-free method for the early detection of canine cancer. First, a urine sample is required. Next, using so-called Raman...