|
Home > News > Tags > plastics
|
|
30
Oil has been used to produce all plastic products for decades, and its supremacy in doing so has never been challenged, until now. Experts at Dow Chemical say that they found a way of using sugarcane to produce the plastic compound polyethylene at low cost. Alternative methods of producing materials equivalent to pla... |
25 July 2011
05:44 GMT |
 |
|
According to a new research conducted in France, it would appear that the dangerous compound BPA (bisphenol A) can pass through human skin. This raises new concerns about the safety of this chemical.BPA is one of the most common chemicals. We come in contact with products containing it every day, mostly plastics and ... |
3 November 2010
06:11 GMT |
|
|
Using bacteria rather than petroleum, a team of expert was able to develop a method of producing acrylic acid – a key component for numerous plastic items that is usually derived from oil. According to the team that created the new technique, it would appear that using bacteria for converting sugar into acrylic... |
20 September 2010
04:06 GMT |
|
|
Women are fascinated with facial wrinkles, while fashion experts are obsessed with eliminating the wrinkles on their clothes. One could argue that wrinkles are part of our daily lives, but scientists have yet to discover the mysteries these structures contain. Now, a team of experts managed to get past the complex na... |
29 July 2010
09:52 GMT |
|
|
One of the main goals for research in the United States today is the conversion of carbon dioxide emitted by fossil fuel-powered electrical plants into useful products. As part of this endeavor, the US Department of Energy (DOE) is providing $106 million (£68 million) in research grant money to six companies th... |
29 July 2010
05:27 GMT |
|
|
One of the most important sources of plastic pollution are soft drinks and water bottles. Fleece blankets and other similar items are also a source of the petroleum-based compound, but a group of scientists announces that it may have just discovered a way of reducing the negative effects plastics have on the environm... |
22 July 2010
10:39 GMT |
|
|
Scientists have been trying to obtain the perfect glare- and reflection-free displays for many years, but thus far their efforts have been in vain. Now, after turning to nature for inspiration, experts believe they may have just discovered a means of making these advanced devices a reality. They say that the only thi... |
26 May 2010
03:01 GMT |
|
|
Millions of kilograms of plastics are produced around the world every single day. In addition to being disposed of improperly, and polluting the environment, plastic is also a material based heavily on crude oil. Its main raw material is ethene, a compound of which some 130 million kilograms are produced every single... |
31 March 2010
05:39 GMT |
|
|
According to new data presented March 28 at the spring meeting of the Society for General Microbiology, held in Edinburgh, it may be that using microbes to break up plastic is the way to go. Most people tend to consider plastic objects as being disposable, but in fact they can take up to several thousand years to bre... |
29 March 2010
04:13 GMT |
|
|
Bisphenol A (BPA) is now one of the most scrutinized chemicals in the world. Various research groups have determined that it can have negative effects on the human body when ingested, and more work is currently underway to determine whether that is indeed true or not. But the chemical does resemble the hormone e... |
25 March 2010
11:34 GMT |
|
|
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is already known to researchers as a major threat to the oceanic ecosystem. In the northern parts of the Central Pacific Ocean, currents conglomerate tons upon tons of garbage and wastes, creating artificial islands of junk, and causing many species to die from intoxication with plasti... |
25 February 2010
06:04 GMT |
|
|
In a groundbreaking innovation that could see the widespread adoption of plastic-based bendable displays, researchers at a company called Phicot have managed to develop a new method of printing silicon transistors on flexible plastics. This could finally erase the obstacles plaguing the industry, the largest of which... |
1 February 2010
19:01 GMT |
|
|
Japanese researchers at the Tokyo University announce the creation of a new type of hydrogel, which is made entirely out of water and clay. The innovation is at this point strong enough to support its own structure, but its creators reveal that future innovations could see it become even more resistant. In fact, they... |
25 January 2010
08:44 GMT |
|
|
According to a scientist, it may be that an actual tree for Christmas is greener than a fake, plastic one. The biologist, who is based at the Saint Joseph's University, in Philadelphia, believes that his idea may seem a little bit counterintuitive at first, but says that his arguments are valid, and should not b... |
11 December 2009
05:52 GMT |
|
|
Up until now, scientists have always considered that the only possible way of producing plastic, one of the main materials in our civilization, is through modifying and altering fossil fuels, primarily oil. But now, a team of South Korean scientists has managed to produce the compound for the first time without using... |
23 November 2009
03:27 GMT |
|
|
Scientists at the University of California in Berkeley (UCB) have recently announced the creation of a new type of microcapsules, similar to the ones used in carbon-free paper, but much improved. They add that the new design is a significant improvement from the other type of microcapsules that burst and release thei... |
29 October 2009
03:28 GMT |
|
|
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is probably one of the few places in the world you really don't want your ship to down near. What may seem like a chain of islands from well above turns out to be nothing but hundreds of miles of loosely bound trash, floating around in the Northern Pacific Ocean. But the accurate ... |
28 August 2009
01:40 GMT |
|
|
Removing oil or grease stains from kitchen and bathroom countertops, mirrors and garage floors with nothing but water may seem like a thing of science fiction, but the tools to do this are already in the works. At the latest American Chemical Society (ACS) annual meeting, in Washington DC, experts have showcased a ne... |
17 August 2009
03:44 GMT |
|
|
Scientists at the University of Washington, led by Associate Professor of Chemistry David Ginger, have recently taken another step forward towards completing the scientific objective of producing cheap, plastic-based solar cells able to transform more than ten percent of the sunlight they absorb into electricity. One... |
5 August 2009
03:02 GMT |
|
|
A group of marine biologists and environmentalists from California is setting sail to the Northern Pacific this week, to visit the immense patch of garbage that has accumulated in the region due to converging currents. In the years since this formation has been made public, it has become obvious that the patch, now t... |
5 August 2009
02:47 GMT |
|
|
One of the problems that could constitute an issue in the wide-scale use of graphene sheets in the new generation of circuits and electronic devices concerns ripples, which are similar to the ones exhibited by a plastic wrap tightly pulled over a clamped edge. And the need to use the carbon compound will be very comp... |
27 July 2009
04:52 GMT |
|
|
The effects of bisphenol A, a chemical widely found in plastic products, have been debated ardently over the past few years, with strong arguments on both sides. And, since the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seems unable to take control of the issue and give a final verdict, researchers from the University of ... |
9 July 2009
13:21 GMT |
|
|
Despite the fact that the Food and Drug Administration mysteriously seems to find nothing wrong with it, a growing body of researchers is urging people to avoid purchasing products containing the plastic compound bisphenol A (BPA). In a scientific statement issued on Wednesday, the Endocrine Society of the United Sta... |
11 June 2009
04:57 GMT |
|
|
When you hear 'plastic' the first thing that probably comes to your mind is 'electrical insulator'. This is perhaps because most plastics have exceptional electrical insulator properties, albeit this doesn't necessarily mean that all plastics share the same properties. It was proven some thre... |
2 July 2008
03:46 GMT |
|
|
A new method of producing micro- and nanoparticles made of polymers has been presented by a team of researchers, who claim they can obtain a wide variety of shapes and sizes just by using readily available laboratory chemical and equipment.This new technique was presented by a team of scientists at the College of En... |
10 July 2007
10:34 GMT |
|
|
No, the famous show "Pimp My Ride" hasn't moved from MTV to the nanoscale, but scientists have succeeded in producing the first nanoscale rims that look like the real deal. Though they are not likely to be mounted on miniature cars anytime soon, they will still find applications in nanocomposite materials.Scien... |
9 July 2007
03:33 GMT |
|
|
Nowadays, people turn to nature in their attempt of transitioning from certain technological processes: glucose is going to replace oil to produce fuel and different chemicals. And apparently, plastics, too. Glucose is the main energetic molecule used by plants and animals, the first sugar plants get by photosynthes... |
18 June 2007
04:24 GMT |
|
|
|
|
Find us on Google+
