Tag: Material

Pullovers from oyster shells are no sailor’s yarn. Mussels can also be a useful medical aid as a South Korean research team has proved with its biodegradable adhesive patch. To make it, they combined sticky proteins from the shellfish with two polymers: polyacryl and sodium salt. When dry, the patch is not adhesive. Instead, its adhesive effect comes into...

Some fish perceive their surroundings in the dark. Now, a Chinese-South Korean research team has developed a sensor that can recognise nearby objects without touching them. Key to the enterprise is a composite film made from two highly conductive materials. A polymer based on silicon (polydimethylsiloxane) and a few organic macromolecules (graphitic carbon nitride), which are mixed and then...

Efforts are underway to remove CO2 from seawater. Shipping is currently responsible for around 3% of greenhouse gas emissions - a figure that is on the rise. For our planet every reduction counts. Which explains why a female-led startup from London has developed a system that removes up to 95% of the carbon dioxide generated by a ship’s engine....

The right scaffold can improve deteriorating eyesight. If a heart valve stops working, it’s usually replaced. One made from animal tissue might only last a decade. Metal varieties require patients to take medication all their lives. But, according to an English research team, there is another way. Banking on the body’s powers of regeneration, the team has developed a...

Sustainable food can be conjured out of thin air. Now a Hamburg-based startup has used CO2 to manufacture oil alternatives. CO2 is placed in a bioreactor with different bacteria and converted into oil. Using yeast makes the oil suitable for cosmetic or cleaning products; oxyhydrogen bacteria, meanwhile, means it can be used for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), lubricant or...

In India, leaves are being converted to fertiliser and farm stubble used to make packaging material - instead of being burned. Organic waste can be used in a variety of sustainable solutions. But what if you lack the material to implement a solution in practice? Enter a US-based startup and their platform which allows biological waste to be both...

Sustainable toilet paper made from oranges and aloe vera is helping to seed flowers. Meanwhile sanitary towels and pantyliners can be manufactured using banana fibres. And now, a female-led startup in Berlin is making nappy liners and tampons from seaweed. Dried brown algae is ground into powder and an off-white substance extracted from it. It is free from heavy...

A glassy mousse-like mineral powder can insulate houses without using oil-based materials. Shoe soles, however, are still mainly composed of plastic. Enter a Canadian startup aiming to cushion our steps sustainably while recycling a precious resource: wine corks. After years of research, its product is now ready to hit the market. Both recycled corks and the waste from cork...