This is a guest post by Steve Erickson. How would you like to be able to conjure up a new pair of glasses if you lose your old ones? A new part for your broken watch? How about a dinner? 3-D printers are making all of this possible. They use polymers to create solid, three-dimensional objects, [...]
Cellulose Enables Recyclable Solar Cells
April 2, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Just like you recycle plastic containers and glass, pretty soon you will be able to recycle solar cells. Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Purdue University are using natural substances from trees and plants as the basis for organic solar cells. Substrates made from cellulose — a natural polymer — hold the solar [...]
3-D Printing Could Make Drivable Car
March 5, 2013 By 2 Comments
One day, we’ll have the technology to make our own car at home. When that day comes, we might look back to 2013 and say that Jim Kor was the reason. Kor is the engineering brains behind a car that can be made from 3-D printing, reports Wired. Called the Urbee 2, the car, developed [...]
Plastic Scaffold Helps Regenerate Bone
February 15, 2013 By 1 Comment
English scientists have found what they claim is a perfect blend of plastic material that could lead to bone regeneration for older people or those who have significant bone fractures. The research conducted by British scientists resulted in a honeycomb scaffold structure porous enough to allow blood to flow through it. This blood flow enables [...]
Research Debates BPA’s Influence in the Womb
February 13, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Research on bisphenol A (BPA) — a building block of polymers — has lately focused on the prenatal exposure of the chemical. For example, researchers at the University of Missouri found an association between BPA exposure in utero and later reproductive-associated behaviors in mice. In fact, the exposure affected males differently than females, reports Science [...]
Common Plastics in Environment Absorb Contaminants
January 30, 2013 By 2 Comments
A California study shows that the most commonly produced plastics that are littered in the environment are also the ones that absorb the most chemicals, a finding that poses a greater risk for marine animals and those that eat them. The absorption ability of these plastics continued for longer periods of time than previously thought. [...]
Plastic Cup Reduces Paper Waste at Landfills
January 21, 2013 By Leave a Comment
A major retailer is offering reusable plastic as a way to reduce paper waste. Starbucks, the large coffee chain, now has reusable plastic cups that customers can purchase along with their grande half-caf, double pump soy latte. Made out of 100% virgin polypropylene (PP), the plastic cups — in 12- and 16-oz sizes (tall and [...]
Ant Study Finds Phthalates Are Pervasive
January 16, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Phthalates are everywhere. Just ask the insects. Well, you can ask, but you won’t get an answer. Unless you’re a scientist like Alain Lenoir, of the Francois Rabelais University in Tours, France. He has found that phthalates are on the cuticles of ants all over the world. His team has found phthalates on wood crickets [...]
3-D Printer Recycles Plastic
November 29, 2012 By 1 Comment
A team from the University of Washington has won $100,000 in a contest in which it used a large 3-D printer to transform plastic waste into composting toilets and rainwater harvesting systems. The winnings from the international contest, 3D4D Challenge, will be used to form a company that will work with partners in Oaxaca, Mexico, [...]
Polymers Make Sensitive “Skin”
November 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment
In the near future, historians may credit Stanford University scientists with developing the first artificial skin with polymers that can sense pressure and heal itself. The material may be ideal for prosthetics. And — who could be certain to say otherwise — a cyborg. Over the past 10 years or so, there have been major [...]
