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Grounded growth

A smart app is targeting overfishing while illuminated nets could help reduce bycatch. Now a Hamburg-based startup is hoping to provide fresh fish outside the ocean using cells from salmon or rainbow trout from a controlled aquaculture. The cells are cultivated in steel tanks with nutrients, vitamins and minerals from plants such as beans and sugarcane, but also yeast,...

Expanded treatment

Technological advancements mean donor blood could soon be more widely used. But injuries involving heavy bleeding must be treated immediately on-site. Cue a Florida-based research team and its newly created foam, which acts like a pressure bandage. Using a two-chamber syringe, a silicon gel comprising anti-bacterial silver oxide and oxygen are simultaneously injected into the wound. The oxygen inflates...

Modern circulation

Banana paper protects potatoes from parasites. After harvesting, potato stems are often burned, since they are hard to compost and unsuitable as animal feed or fertiliser. A London-based startup has recognised their value. In their patent-pending process, fibres are extracted from stems using biological and mechanical processes and spun into yarn. Like cotton, linen or synthetic fibre, it can...

Melting signals

Paper tags prevent theft, while algae protects against fire. And now, British students are turning to natural materials such as charcoal to provide safeguards against wildfires. Their patent-pending, pinecone-like sensor can be placed on the forest floor. If the surrounding temperature exceeds 80℃, wax in the ‘cone’ starts to melt. Its heat is converted into energy by a small...

Embedded bonds

Cuts help tape stick better and sustainable glue is even stronger underwater. Now, an Austrian-based research team is looking to skip the adhesive stage with two patent-pending techniques for joining wood and other materials. For more complex objects, a polymer composite is applied directly onto wood using 3D-printing. The material flows into the wood pores, the wood fibres become...

Nourishing networks

Mushrooms can play a vital role in computer technology. And are equally good at dealing with noise pollution. They also form part of an underground network which supplies trees with nutrients, helping them to grow. If trees are felled and uprooted, however, these networks also disappear. Now, an Edinburgh-based startup is restoring this ecosystem by preparing individually-tailored pellets containing...

Promising production

Dragonflies offer a blueprint for treating sprains. Healthy cartilage, meanwhile, is important for knee and hip joints - but once damaged it can’t heal of its own accord. Enter a US research team and its new biopaste made from a special bioactive peptide and modified hyaluronic acid. When injected into damaged cartilage, the paste morphs into a structured growth...

Working extraction

Cocoa waste is a sweet deal for farmers. And pineapple plant leaves could prove just as useful. A startup in London has combined with farmers in the Philippines to use the plant’s leaf fibres to create an alternative to leather. First the fibres are extracted from the leaves - with remaining waste used as fertiliser or as basis for...

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