Collaborate Disseminate
Driven by the huge burden they place on the environment, scientists are continually looking for new ways to manufacture plastic materials that make them easier to recycle, and MIT researchers are now claiming a significant breakthrough in this area. By… Continue reading MIT’s new degradable plastic matches its peers for mechanical strength
In a world that’s literally awash in plastic waste, it seems a pity to have to buy fresh rolls of plastic filament to feed our 3D-printers, only to have them generate yet more plastic waste. Breaking that vicious cycle requires melding plastic recycling with additive manufacturing, and that takes some …read more
Continue reading Open-Source Grinder Makes Compression Screws for Plastic Extruders Easy
Coroplast (short for corrugated plastic) is an interesting material. It has a structure similar to cardboard, but since it’s plastic it’s waterproof and can be used for a unique set of applications. It’s typically used for political yard signs, but there are more fun things to do with this lightweight …read more
If you want to experiment with pneumatic devices, you’ll likely find yourself in need of custom inflatable bladders eventually. These can be made in arbitrary 2D shapes by using a soldering iron to fuse the edges of two plastic sheets together, but it’s obviously a pretty tedious and finicky process. …read more
Continue reading Fusing Plastic Sheets With A 3D Printer (Sort Of)
Millions of metric tons of plastic waste enter the ocean each year, but beyond that, we have little idea where much of it ultimately winds up. Researchers working to trace its path through the marine environment have discovered the highest concentratio… Continue reading Scientist unearth record amount of microplastics on the seafloor
One of the grave problems with plastic waste in the ocean is not just the mess it creates today, but the mess it might leave for centuries to come. Scientists at Cornell University have been working on more environmentally friendly forms of plastic for… Continue reading New type of marine plastic degrades quickly under ultraviolet light
While we know that a huge amount of plastic waste is building up in the oceans, what we don’t know a lot about is where it ends up, and what exactly it means for marine ecosystems. After studying the stomach contents of thousands of animals, scientists… Continue reading Study calculates the size of plastic waste marine animals can stomach
Betteridge’s Law of Headlines holds that any headline ending in a question mark can be answered with a resounding “No”. But as the video below shows, a Lego machine that twists steel asunder is not only possible, it’s an object lesson in metal fatigue. Touché, [Betteridge].
In pitting plastic against …read more
Plastic pollution is a monumental issue and one that isn’t going away anytime soon, but researchers are opening up new possibilities around how we could chip away at the problem. Scientists working in this area at Canada’s Brandon University have made … Continue reading The hungry gut bacteria that enable waxworms to live on plastic waste
Research from a team of US scientists is again raising doubts over the safety of “BPA-free” plastic products. The animal studies described in a new article suggest bisphenol S (BPS) “causes almost identical changes in gene expression” compared to bisph… Continue reading More research questions safety of “BPA-free” plastics