Tag: Material

Laser light can help wounds heal. For some people with epilepsy, light sensitivity plays a decisive role - especially when watching TV, playing video games or using smartphones. Attacks are often triggered by flashing or flickering lights. A British research team has developed a dual-layer liquid crystal lens to repel lightwaves in the highly triggering 660-720nm range. Their prototype,...

Tempura leftovers can be repurposed. But glass-fibre reinforced plastics, used for boats, cars and wind turbines, have always been trickier to recycle. Until now. A Swiss-based startup cuts pieces into 1.5 x 2 metre units, before separating the glass-fibre structures from the resin in their oxygen-free reactor. By applying heat the resin is converted into gas. Some of it...

Ships at anchor can generate electricity. Now, a London-based designer wants to equip narrowboats with a special bumper to help clean up British canal waters. The plastic bumper, which hangs from outside the boat, has holes in its lower half, and is filled with coconut fibres and microbes. As the canal water flows into these openings any oil it...

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,...

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...

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...

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...

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...