Recycling Cigarette Butts And Turning Them Into Plastic

Everywhere you look there are cigarette ends – making a mess of the street and beaches. Recycling companies cannot deal with it and due to the make-up of the contents it has not so far been possible to recycle them. That was until a company in New Jersey has found a way to recycle that significant amounts of butts and make them into plastic products, railway sleepers and shipping pallets.

TerraCycle has the idea that if others think something cannot be recycled, then they have to find a way to do it. Since their inception in the early 2000s, there are upward of 7,000 recycling bins in nine countries across the globe. The USA, UK and Australia are among them. As smoking will not stop – in fact, it appears to be increasing- there needs to be another way to deal with the ends. The National Institute of Health has calculated that of the 6 trillion cigarettes smoked per annum, 4.5 trillion ends up as litter. These ends contaminate water, and according to Tom Szaky founder of TerraCycle; animals are using them as food. The problem was going to be how to recycle them, and the first stage is to break them down into smaller parts.

The organic elements are added to compost and go on non-agricultural land while the filters become plastics such as ashtrays and Frisbees. The stumbling block could, however, be the cost as it costs more to make items then they could be sold for, but while the bins are being sponsored, the work can continue.

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4D-printed Shape-Shifting Architectures That Mimic Plant Movements

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Mehmet Hatipoglu

3D printing has now been taken a stage further, thanks to the work of scientists at Harvard University. It is now possible to produce a 4D composite structure that will alter shape when placed in water. The idea came after it was realised that plants will alter shape as a result of an environmental stimulus. The product is printed using hydrogel composite ink, and this has aligned cellulose fibrils included, and it is this that will allow anisotropic swelling.

Jennifer Lewis claims that this is an advance in the production of materials that can be programmed and this is a stage further as items can be produced that can be transformed. The product being printed is set to copy the shape changes that plant organs will follow

Nature Materials have reported that the people involved are A. Sydney Gladman, who specializes in polymer printing and composites, and Elisabetta Matsumoto who is a postdoctoral fellow at the Wyss.

Gladman explains that by using just one composite ink and printing at one stage, there can be more complexity than in any other system, and this is achieved by changing the print path.

The method was inspired by the way plants change shape over time in response to environmental stimuli. This orchid-shaped structure is printed with a hydrogel composite ink containing aligned cellulose fibrils, which enable anisotropic swelling. A proprietary mathematical model developed by the team precisely predicts how the fibrils will swell in water. After printing, the 4D orchid is immersed in water to activate its shape transformation. Credit: A.S. Gladman, E. Matsumoto, L.K. Sanders, and J.A. Lewis / Wyss Institute at Harvard University

The most remarkable thing about this form of 4D printing is that now and shape can be designed, and many materials can be used. Once done, there is a new platform suitable for printing and putting together microscale structures that can be utilized for many medical and industrial applications. Funding came from some sources including the Army Research Office.

Story Via; Wyss Institute at Harvard University

SolarTab, A Giant Solar Panel With 13.000 mAh Battery

Startups

Mehmet Hatipoglu

Many people have a battery back-up every day, and this can be needed if you want to watch video content on the phone. The thought of running phones off the grid may seem strange, and large battery packs can be inconvenient, but Solartab is looking at ways of charging mobile phones from the suns’ power. The panel may be large, but it is made to look like a tablet.

Solartab just needs a 13,000mAh battery, a couple of USB ports and a solar panel, and you will be ready to start harnessing the sun’s rays. A folding case attaches to the panel, so others think it is a tablet you have, and it allows options when it comes to putting the panel in the best position to attract the sun. Once finished with, it can be stored as you would any tablet.

13,000mAh will cover a couple of mobile phones recharges and with two 2A ports, anything that was required for use can be charged up. Once the battery has been drained, it can be charged by using the USB port or via the solar panel that is on the front of the Solartab. An LED reassures you that charging is going as planned, and experience has shown that there is a 10% recharge each hour, and while it will be hard to fully recharge in a day it is possible.

SolarTab, a Giant Solar Panel With 13.000 mAh Battery

It is a large battery, but it works well, recharges quickly and is easy to use. This will be an ideal solution for those needing phones recharging on the go.

to buy the product visit; amazon.com

A New Alternative of Portland Cement Will Make Constructing Greener

News

Mehmet Hatipoglu

Known as the most popular building material worldwide, concrete is an old discovery. It was known to the ancient cultures of Egypt and Babylon who used a blend of pebbles and clay to make firm structures. The renowned tourist attraction, the Great Wall of China, consists of blocks that were joined together with cement. In modern society cement, which has tiny particles of aggregate, is mixed with water and cement incorrect ratios.

While concrete is so commonly used, the major producer of Portland cement is thought to contribute to earth’s carbon emissions by five percent. Hence, efforts are being made to make concrete cement green.

Camfree, a British organization, has made their move by creating their cement-free concrete. This cement uses bonding material called ground-granulated blast furnace slag. It is a bi-product from the steel industry. According to Cemfree, if their concrete had been the one used to construct the Empire State Building, up to 13,319 tonnes of CO2 emissions would have been avoided. While several in the construction industry don’t trust Cemfree’s cement, tests have shown that it performs almost as great as the conventional cement concrete.

The Taktl UHPC (Ultra-high-performance concrete) is yet another promising product. When compressed, Taktl stays strong as it has many tiny particles that are packed together. Compared to ordinary concrete, Taktl needs less water allowing builders to achieve strong structures while using less of it. According to Taktl co-founder, Lauren Flannery, their concrete was made in conjunction with G.TECZ (a Germany facility).

Then there is the bioreceptive concrete, created by Dr. Sandra Manso-Blanco. Bioreceptive concrete allows growth of moulds. However, together with the BiotA lab(at Bartlett School of Architecture), Dr. Manso-Blanco has come up with a four-layered structure: regular cement concrete, waterproofing, bioreceptive concrete and top layer for absorbing and storing water.

Only these three products have been developed to make concrete cement green.

A New Bioprinting Technique for Tissue or Bone Replacement

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Mehmet Hatipoglu

Soon it may be possible to replace entire organs thanks to the work of a team at The Wyss Institute at Harvard. Tissues can be produced through 3D bioprinting, and it will act as human tissue. According to Wyss faculty member Jennifer A. Lewis, they are a step closer to being able to perform tissue repairs and regeneration.

The team was able to demonstrate that the tissue could last for over six weeks, and the thickness of the tissue has increased tenfold. At a demonstration, they printed tissue that was 1cm thick and contained human bone marrow stem cells complete with connective tissue. Growth factors were added and after a month, cells became bone cells.

The programme funding the research is the Civil Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation and according to Zhijian Pei one of the directors, this research will allow wider us of 3D tissues and will eventually allow the full regeneration of tissue.

Living tissue cultures can be created and the chip involved can be changed to allow various sizes of tissue shapes to be produced. There is a great deal of praise for the team and the work they are carrying out, and it is believed that problems that were holding back tissue engineering can be overcome.

There have been a number of people working on the scheme along with Lewis, and this includes a few other Wyss staff including Kimberley Holman, who is a research associate and postdoctoral fellow Mark Skylar-Scott.

NASA Wants to Solve One of the Biggest Mystery of the Space

News

Mehmet Hatipoglu

NASA Wants to Solve One of the Biggest Mystery of the Space

Orbital ATK, who are partnering NASA, is planning to launch the Cygnus cargo spacecraft containing experiments and supplies into the orbit of the lower earth. It will dock with the ISS and provide them with the food they need. There is, however, more for the spacecraft to do as once it has been unloaded, it will be filled with the rubbish that has built up on the ISS, then will separate from it and will be set on fire by NASA.

Saffire is the name of the experiment, and the aim is to understand what happens when a fire is lit in a space vehicle. Despite the fact that NASA has sent many vehicles into space, they don’t know how fire acts as previous tests have involved small amounts of material. A much larger amount will be burned this time and will be well away from the ISS according to Gary Ruff at the Glenn Research centre.

Oxygen and carbon dioxide will be measured and so will the temperature. It will be filmed and should take about 20 minutes and once the recordings are analysed, NASA will know more about fire detection. Once Cygnus re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere, it will blow up and be finished with.

Before its heated end, it will deliver 4 scientific experiments to the ISS and this will include Gecko grippers and a 3D printer. A Meteor will be on board and this instrument will determine the make-up of meteors that entire the earth’s orbit.

Modified Mosquitos Will Used Against Zika Virus in Florida

News

Mehmet Hatipoglu

The fear of the Zika virus has led to the suggestion that mosquito’s that have been genetically modified should be released in Florida. There is not going to be a threat to the environment according to the FDA.

British firm Oxitec have modified the mosquito – given the name the Aedes aeqypti and has passed tests set by the FDA to determine impacts on health or the environment. The company has claimed that once their mosquito is released, it will keep down the population of the problem one and as a result, diseases such as yellow fever, Zika and dengue will not be transmitted as easily as they have been in the past.

The young of the modified one will pass lethal genes to any offspring they have, and they will not have the chance to grow to maturity. There have already been some trials carried out in Panama, Brazil and the Cayman Islands, and the claims are that there has been a 90% reduction in the Aedes aegypti.

Oxitec chief executive, Hadyn Parry said that this mosquito has been a threat to the public and has caused the spread of Zika and dengue. As it is non-native to the States, control has been difficult reaching just 50%, and this is not high enough to have any real impact.

There will have to be further decisions from the FDA as to the release of the mosquitos and consultation will take 30 days.

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Converting Largest Coal Plant in North America to Solar Farm

News

Mehmet Hatipoglu

The Ontario Power Generating Plant was once the biggest coal-fired plant based in North America. At one time it could easily produce 4,000 megawatts, but since 2013 it has not been in use, but the good news is that there are new plans for the site and before long it is going to be back in production.

There are changes however as the new site will not utilise coal but will be a solar farm and this is in keeping with the attempts to use less coal; Cleantech Canada is reporting. There are various projects that are part of a solar use project according to the Ontario grid operators Electricity Systems Operator.

There are 16 contracts included in what is known as the Large Renewable Procurement Program and in total 454.9MW of energy will be provided. As Ontario managed to phase out coal in 2014 and as part of this was the closure of the Nanticoke plant. It is Sun Edison Canadian Construction who are working in partnership with Six Nations Development as well as the Ontario Power Generation. The firms will all receive the same price for the energy that is produced, and that is said to be 15.57 Canadian cents for each kilowatt-hour of energy that is produced. As a result of this, it is unlikely that the Canadian consumer is going to see a lot of a reduction in prices even though there was recently a rise in payment rates.

Story Via; canadianmanufacturing.com

Watching a Cancer Operation Via Google Cardboard

News

Mehmet Hatipoglu

There is about to be a live screening of an operation on a cancer patient who is being treated at St Bartholomew’s, London. It is the first screening of its kind and the surgeon Dr. Shafi Ahmed has not said where the screening will be shown, although initial thoughts are that it will be on YouTube. Speaking on a show for wearable technology in London, he said that he wants the public to be able to see the process. He added that it would appear to the viewer that they were also in the operating theatre.

Google Cardboard is one such headset that will allow 360-degree videos and Samsung and Facebook are planning to use the technology for educational purposes as well as working with the military. Ahmed is not the only medic involved with virtual reality health care, and he wishes to educate others as out of the 7 billion people worldwide, only 2 billion can receive surgery when it is needed. So far others have seen the surgery as patients have been allowed to view their operation after the event, and Chief Exec. of Apple John Sculley has picked up some basic skills.

It is not yet known when the operation would take place, but for many decades in the past, surgery was viewed, but this was when the interested party was there in person. In the past, Dr. Ahmed has used Google Glass to show operations to student surgeons. Next, it will be touch, but for this, the technology needs to catch up.

Scientists Will Modify Genes to Treat Cancer or Autism

News

Mehmet Hatipoglu

Some diseases are linked to human genes, and the good news is that scientists have discovered a viable solution. These researchers have known how to use the CRISPR-Cas9 (a mechanism for editing genes) on the messenger RNA. The RNA transmits genetic signals from the cell’s nucleus.

Carried out by researchers based at the University of California, San Diego, this experiment might lead to new cures for ailments that result when the messenger RNA stops functioning properly. These include neurodegenerative diseases, a few cancers, or autism.

According to an associate professor of Molecular Medicine at UCSD, Gene Yeo, who is also the lead writer of the research that appears today in the Journey Cell, the team can now target and edit RNA in living cells. Yeo utters further that their study gives room for more research on how to manipulate and alter genes that cause diseases. Additionally, the professor confirms the fact that in many ailments the genome can only be ruptured into pieces rather than modified.

CRISPR-Cas9 is a mechanism bacteria occurring naturally and eats up attacking bacteria.

dna — A computer illustration shows complementary messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) strands (pink) and the enzyme RNA polymerase (green). Also seen are the enzymes DNA topoisomerase (magenta), which unwinds DNA, DNA endonuclease (violet), which cuts DNA strands, and DNA ligase (yellow), which joins DNA strands together.
JUAN GAERTNER/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/CORBIS

These researchers realized that they could use it to cut DNA and modify genes. First, they create an RNA that matches the series of the targeted gene. Next, the RNA is used to guide the Cas9 enzyme to the target in the genome. Then it slices the DNA and then the cells starts to repair the DNA cut while disabling the gene. Alternatively, the scientists may restore the area opposite the cut with restored version of the gene.

Although CRISPR-Cas9 has been used to alter human embryos in China, the USA government prohibits any federal funding on the same. But so far the NAS (National Academy of Sciences) is creating ethics that will be followed in this field.

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