Adidas created a shoe that is literally made out of Trash.

Posted on December 26, 2015 by adminedit

German apparel giant Adidas has created a prototype for a sustainable new shoe made almost entirely from recycled garbage pulled from the ocean, the company announced on Monday. The upper shoe is made entirely of yarns and filaments reclaimed from illegal deep-sea gillnets and other ocean waste, while the base is made from sustainable cushioning material. To call ocean pollution a big problem is an understatement. According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization,...

Lasers could rapidly make materials hotter than the Sun.

Posted on November 23, 2015 by adminedit

Lasers could heat materials to temperatures hotter than the centre of the Sun in only 20 quadrillionths of a second, according to new research that could revolutionise energy production. Physicists from Imperial College London have devised an extremely rapid heating mechanism that they believe could heat certain materials to ten million degrees in much less than a million millionth of a second. The method, proposed for the first time, could be relevant to new avenues of research in thermonuclear...

3D printed objects may be toxic

Posted on November 13, 2015 by adminedit

Parts produced by some commercial 3D printers may be toxic, according to a new study that raises concerns about how to dispose of parts and waste materials from the devices which are becoming increasingly popular. Researchers at the University of California, Riverside studied two common types of 3D printers, one that melts plastic to build a part, and another that uses light to turn a liquid into a solid part. They found that parts from both types of printers were measurably toxic to zebrafish e...

Memory and conductivity

Posted on November 10, 2015 by adminedit

Scientists from Stanford University and the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have made the first direct images showing that electrical currents can flow along the boundaries between tiny magnetic regions of a material that normally doesn’t conduct electricity. The results could have major implications for magnetic memory storage. "This can provide a more straightforward way to use magnetic material as memory,” said Eric Yue Ma, a graduate student in the laboratory of Z...

Artificial Foam Heart Created

Posted on October 20, 2015 by adminedit

Cornell University researchers have developed a new lightweight and stretchable material with the consistency of memory foam that has potential for use in prosthetic body parts, artificial organs and soft robotics. The foam is unique because it can be formed and has connected pores that allow fluids to be pumped through it. The foam starts as a liquid, so researchers can pour it into a 3D printed mould in order to form the heart, adding appropriate valves to the finished structure. This means...

Catalyst Destroys Common Toxic Nerve Agents Quickly

Posted on October 10, 2015 by adminedit

Northwestern scientists have developed a robust new material, inspired by biological catalysts, that is extraordinarily effective at destroying toxic nerve agents that are a threat around the globe. First used 100 years ago during World War I, deadly chemical weapons continue to be a challenge to combat. The material, a zirconium-based metal-organic framework (MOF), degrades in minutes one of the most toxic chemical agents known to mankind, Soman (GD), a more toxic relative of sarin. Computer...

Scaling up production of 2D electronic materials

Posted on September 30, 2015 by adminedit

An MIT-led group of researchers has claimed to have determined a way to make large sheets of molybdenum telluride. Sheets of graphene and other materials that are virtually two-dimensional hold great promise for electronic, optical, and other high-tech applications but the biggest limitation in unleashing this potential has been figuring out how to make these materials in the form of anything larger than tiny flakes. Now researchers at MIT and elsewhere may have found a way to do so. The g...

New Plant-Based Insulation Created

Posted on September 6, 2015 by adminedit

Plant-based, natural building materials have the potential to boost energy savings for homeowners. Over a three-year period, University of North Texas researchers developed and tested a low-cost process to prepare kenaf, a plant in the hibiscus family that is similar to bamboo, for use as a building material; specifically, kenaf is used to create structured insulated panel building materials. Scientists worldwide are turning to plants as a resource for biodegradable, renewable and environm...