The plastic crisis starts with petroleum-based products, is facilitated by consumer consumption and expands to pollution of the land and water. Plastic never completely goes away, and microplastics are now found in nearly every animal and plant on the planet. The beauty industry is a major contributor to this issue, thanks to excessive plastic packaging for deodorant, makeup, skincare and […]
Meejee Sets Sustainable Goals
Sign Language Translation Glove
Over the years, we’ve seen a number of experimental “smart” gloves that convert their deaf wearer’s hand gestures into text and/or audible speech. The aptly named Sign Language Translation Glove, however, is claimed to be the first mass-produced product to do so. Manufactured by China’s Wulala Technology Company, the glove is worn on the user’s right hand, and is paired […]
Subterranean Garage For Underground Cars Storage
Commissioned to create a private showroom for a collection of enviable cars, Arup and Unism have designed a cave-like lair that would be meticulously engineered to help ensure the vehicles are kept in perfect condition. The subterranean garage is planned for Warsaw, Poland, in a leafy residential area and will be situated next to the owner’s home. Access will be […]
Xoma Delivers Superfood In Single Serve Plant Based Pods
Anyone who drinks coffee can appreciate the undeniable convenience of coffee pods, most commonly associated with Keurig machines. But environmentally, these plastic pods are mounting up to an estimated 40 billion pieces of waste in the landfills every year. Enter a chemist, a material-development company and a focus on superfoods for some interesting coffee options with the added benefit of […]
Fermented vs High Fiber Diet
Investigating the relationship between diet, gut bacteria and systemic inflammation, a team of Stanford University researchers has found just a few weeks of following a diet rich in fermented foods can lead to improvements in microbiome diversity and reductions in inflammatory biomarkers. The new research pitted a high-fiber diet against a diet with lots of fermented food. Thirty-six healthy adults […]
Spring Loaded Screw Helps In Soundproofing
Nobody likes hearing their neighbors’ music, TV shows or loud conversations. Soundproof wall materials, however, can be quite thick and expensive. Swedish scientists have developed a thinner, less costly alternative, in the form of a spring-loaded sound-damping screw. Known as the Revolutionary Sound Absorbing Screw (or the Sound Screw for short), the device was created by a team at Malmö […]
Wearable Ultrasound Patch
It goes without saying that the earlier someone can be warned of an impending heart attack or stroke, the better. A new skin patch could provide such warnings, by sending ultrasound pulses into the wearer’s body. Building upon a previously developed device, the patch was created at the University of California-San Diego by a team led by Prof. Sheng Xu. […]
Portable Bad Breath Detector
No matter how hard we may try, we can’t really tell if we’ve got bad breath – and asking someone else to sniff our breath for us can be awkward. It’s now possible that before too long, however, a portable “thumb-size” device could let us know. While bad breath can have various causes, its main smelly ingredient is typically hydrogen […]
Turning Pedal Into A Lock
Given the fact that bicycle commuters have to carry a lock with them at all times, we’ve seen a number of bike parts that double as locks. One of the latest, the ET-one, lets a pedal do the job – partially, at least. Invented by German entrepreneur Thomas Eder, the setup consists of two aluminum-bodied platform pedals along with a […]
Smartphone Screen Can Detect Toxins In The World
When we hear about smartphones being used to perform analytical tasks, there’s usually also a device that’s connected to the phone. According to a new study, however, a phone’s own touchscreen could soon be used to test drinking water and other liquids. Putting it very simply, capacitive touchscreens detect distortions in the screen’s electrostatic field, which are measured as changes […]