Tag: plants

Edible construction material may soon be on everyone’s lips. Now, an Italian-Ecuadorian design team is producing versatile new materials using agricultural waste from cocoa crops. Key to the enterprise: the beans’ outer shell. Their first product from crushed and pressed shell remains is a 12-15 cm thick chipboard perfect for furniture or component parts. Further products such as bioplastic...

Sawdust makes for stylish furniture, while flags embedded with seeds have a blossoming afterlife. Now, a research team from the University of Virginia is creating building elements from soil impregnated with stonecrop seeds. The 3D printed, one-metre high walls are soon ablaze with lush green. These reusable structures are not only low in emissions but also store CO2, while...

Protein from spider’s silk enhances prosthetic flexibility, while algae protein helps blind people see. Now, using biotechnology, a Californian startup is giving plants the power of speech. Equipped with a special protein, plants can communicate fungal- and insect infestation or water and nutrient deficiencies by emitting different coloured light signals. All visible from tractors, drones, or even satellites. A...

Hemp can be a culinary delight and peas consumed as drink. A startup from Hamburg has recently walked away with a PETA award for its egg-substitute from protein-rich, high-fibre sweet lupins. With its egg-like taste and structure, the liquid product innovation qualified for both sweet and hearty fare. Alongside water and sweet lupin flour, the product is made up...

Flags embedded with seeds are creating new crops in India. Now, a startup from Kanpur is recycling plastic-wrapped flower waste that would otherwise end up in the Ganges to produce a handmade alternative to leather. The flowers are collected from mosques and temples, categorised and then freed from chemical fertilisers using an organic spray. After being dried in the...

Meat-free pet food is already available. But insects aren’t so popular with fruit and veg. Now, a team from NC State University has developed a fabric that protects plants from small insects without using pesticides. Key to their approach: time. If insects don’t find food quickly enough, they either give up or die. The team sandwiched a structured, knitted...

Front yards not only look picture-perfect. In big cities, vegetables grow high in the sky. Now a Brooklyn startup is drawing on unused rooftops to grow botanicals for its skincare products. Spread across 3 rooftops, 50 different plants are sprouting in local compost. Crops are fertilised with tea, and irrigated by rainwater - automatically, thanks to solar energy. Nets...

Decommissioned wind turbines deserve a playful afterlife. And speaking of wind, a startup from India has started manufacturing flags from paper and cotton waste. The flags are embedded with flower and herb seeds and can be planted after use during celebrations. This alternative to plastic flags should help reduce roadside waste, as well as encourage young people to act...