More than one billion automobile tires are discarded every year around the world, and some of those tires can be recycled into other consumer products. Now, Dow Chemical Company and Lehigh Technologies, a manufacturer of sustainable micronized rubber powders, have partnered to develop more sustainable materials for tires. Automotive Business Review reports that “the partnership [...]
How Steve Jobs Influenced the Plastics Industry
August 30, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Last week, Steve Jobs stepped down as chief executive officer of Apple but said he will remain the chairman of the company’s board. Amid the flurry of speculation about what the resignation could mean for Apple’s future, several reporters examined how Jobs’ minimalist but revolutionary ideas about design lead to changes in the appearance and [...]
Soy Polymers Developed for Diapers
August 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Disposable baby diapers are getting greener — in a good way. Researchers at Battelle Memorial Institute in Ohio have developed soy-based polymers that could replace up to one-third of the petroleum-based polymers that soak up liquids in disposable diapers and other personal-care products. Diapers and other products can mop up liquids because they contain superabsorbent [...]
Complaints for Hip Implants Jump
August 26, 2011 By 1 Comment
Since January, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has received more than 5,000 reports about several all-metal hip replacement devices, which is more than the FDA received about those devices in the past four years combined, according to an analysis of federal data by The New York Times. The reports stack up even as researchers [...]
New Hubs for Medical Device Development
August 25, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Indianapolis, Indiana, and Nashville, Tennessee, are notoriously hot in the summer. But they are now also touted as U.S. hotspots for medical device development year round. Emily Maltby, who covers small business from the New York bureau of The Wall Street Journal, reports that “Location matters.” She adds: “It’s a lesson that’s all too easy [...]
Call to Review Hacking Potential of Wireless Medical Devices
August 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Earlier this month, a diabetic computer security expert demonstrated at a conference that he could hack into an insulin pump worn on his body and remotely manipulate the device without authorization. Now, two lawmakers are calling for a review of the government’s security standards for wireless medical devices. As reported by the Associated Press via [...]
Coke Struggles With Plastic-Bottle Recycling Plant
August 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment
The Coca-Cola Co.’s goal is to recycle 100% of its plastic drink bottles by 2020. Though the company isn’t giving up yet, the Spartanburg, S.C., recycling plant that it opened in 2009 is having a tough time getting enough used bottles to maintain production of food-grade pellets. Mike Esterl of The Wall Street Journal reports: [...]
Making Medical Devices Compatible
August 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment
A team of researchers in Australia has developed a surface treatment that could increase the body’s acceptance of medical devices such as joint replacements and stents. As Jon Cartwright reports in Chemistry World, the researchers “have developed a plasma treatment that can make any medical device biocompatible by sticking a patient’s own proteins to it.” [...]
Polymer Traps Nicotine
August 19, 2011 By Leave a Comment
There’s a new polymer out there ready to grab nicotine, the addictive molecule in tobacco, and its kin. Researchers in Poland and the U.S. have designed that polymer so that it can be used to make sensitive and selective chemical sensors to measure nicotine in solutions, and, some day, in gases. The polymer is designed [...]
BPA Exposure Through Paper Money
August 18, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Next time you decline a cash register receipt, you may be saving yourself from exposure to bisphenol A (BPA), a potentially toxic substance found in plastics, thermal paper, and other products. Researchers in the U.S. have found that when people put receipts near paper money in billfolds, purses, and pockets, they unwittingly transfer BPA from [...]
