President Obama signed into law two years ago an act that was designed to give the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) more power to hold food suppliers responsible for food-bourne illnesses. Yet most of the Food Safety Modernization Act has not been implemented. The law’s regulatory framework is languishing in the White House’s Office of [...]
New Polymers Could Prevent More Electrical Blackouts
October 30, 2012 By 1 Comment
Scientists at Duke University have observed for the first time how water droplets or air bubbles within polymers behave when they are touched by high electric voltages, and the knowledge gained from those observations may help us make better electrical grids or even optical systems. “The effects of electric voltage on droplets in air or [...]
Ford Investigates “Growing” Materials for Car Parts
October 29, 2012 By Leave a Comment
It is no secret that consumers and manufacturers are moving away from using plastics because of their potential harm to the environment, long lifespan in landfills, and price instability, given the rise in petroleum prices. Now, Ford, the automobile manufacturer, wants to use wood fibers to replace some of the fossil-fuel-based plastics and foams in [...]
Combination of Polymer Films, Salt Keep Food Driest
October 26, 2012 By 2 Comments
Researchers in Germany have experimented with thin films, made from polymers, used in food packaging and mixed them with different types of salts to discover which composites absorb the highest amount of water. The scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials in Bremen, Germany, used films from the following polymers: polypropylene [...]
UGA Gets Grant to Use Enzymes Against PFCs
October 25, 2012 By 2 Comments
Perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) used to be considered helpful. Made from fluoropolymers, PFCs were used to provide protective coatings for packaging products, clothes, and furniture, and they help frying pans be less sticky, and help firefighters flight blazes. Not surprising, they are common in the environment. But the problem now is that studies are showing that [...]
Device Improves Monkeys’ Memories
October 24, 2012 By Leave a Comment
In the future, with the help of an electrical medical implant, we could never forget where we left our keys or parked our cars. Researchers at Wake Forest University have developed a medical device — an electrode prosthesis — that when attached to a Rhesus macaque monkey’s neural complex not only restored its damaged memory [...]
India Tries New Method to Increase Rubber Production
October 23, 2012 By 1 Comment
India hopes to increase its rubber production through joint cultivation of tea and rubber, while being eco-friendly. The joint cultivation will take place in West Bengal. But if the experiment is successful, the inter-cropping will be expanded into other parts of the country, says K.G. Mohanan, who is the additional production commissioner. “If we get [...]
Polymer Aerogel Is Strong and Super-Insulating
October 22, 2012 By 5 Comments
NASA scientists have devised a polymer aerogel that is at least 100 times stronger and more insulating than silica aerogels, a development that could lead to super-insulated clothing and buildings, unique filters, better insulation of pipes and water heaters, refrigerators with thinner walls, and even inflatable heat shields. Once called “frozen smoke,” aerogels were invented [...]
Polymers Help Solve Puzzle About Early Life
October 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Scientists at Penn State are using polymers to uncover clues as to how cellular life on Earth 4 billion years ago may have formed. Ribonucleic acid (RNA) — long strands of molecules that catalyze biological reactions in cells and control gene expression — preceded the appearance of DNA, according to an “RNA-world hypothesis.” Unlike DNA, [...]
Desert Plant Could Be Alternative for Tire Rubber
October 18, 2012 By 1 Comment
Increasingly, companies are trying to find alternative sources of rubber, and they are often turning to plants. A company in Arizona has just released to manufacturers its first samples of rubber made from guayule, a drought-tolerant crop and native to the Sonoran Desert. Tire manufacturers are considering whether to use guayule as a substitute for [...]
