
Food scientists from Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) devised a process that spins starch into fine strands that could be used to create new type of bandages, as well as produce less expensive and more environmentally-friendly toilet paper, napkins and other products. Once the process is scaled to industrial size, companies could use starch fibers…
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Inspired by extraordinary camouflaging abilities of organisms such as squid and zebrafish, a group of researchers from the University of Bristol have created artificial muscles that can change their state and appearance at the push of a button, and demonstrated two different transforming mechanisms that could lead to new clothes with camouflaging tricks analogous to…
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Despite the fact this project isn’t new it earned its spot among our articles due to a different approach that increases sustainability. KB Home’s Primera Terra community serves as a great example to architects and builders which shows that you can gain a LEED Platinum certificate without power generation utilities – a part of most…
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Although Festo primarily represents a supplier of automation technology, our loyal readers have been introduced to them with various interesting biomimetic projects we covered through the years. On a recent Hanover Trade Fair 2012, Festo exhibited a couple of their new concepts, and in this article we’re going to write about human-machine interaction, music being…
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Inspired by nature, where textured surfaces ranging from lotus leaves to desert-beetle carapaces and moth eyes have developed in ways that often fulfill multiple purposes at once, a group of researchers from MIT developed a glass that is self-cleaning, virtually eliminates reflections, and resists fogging and glare. These features could lower the maintenance expenses for…
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Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, came across a relatively simple solution based on a mathematical connection between absorption and emission of light that could lead to improvement of flat-plate solar cell efficiency. Although their concept is counterintuitive, the researchers managed to demonstrate that solar cells which are able to emit light more efficiently…
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We can all reduce our impact on nature by recycling, but why shouldn’t we make recycling centers more sustainable themselves? The City of El Cerrito held a ribbon cutting celebration for the new El Cerrito Recycling and Environmental Resource Center on Earth Day, Sunday April 22, 2012. The new facility is aiming to be certified…
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IBM Research started the Battery 500 Project to develop lithium-air battery technology that could be used to power a family-sized electric car for approximately 500 miles (800 km) on a single charge back in 2009. The project has recently got additional support from Asahi Kasei and Central Glass – two companies with decades of experience…
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