HuffPost – Scientists say there’s more to the pollution problem than the huge masses of debris that grab public attention.
Category: writing
This Ocean Cleanup System Aims To Collect 50 Tons Of Plastic. But Then What?
HuffPost – If the much-hyped system is a success, the tricky question is how to deal with all the plastic waste it will bring back.
These Cultural Treasures Are Made of Plastic. Now They’re Falling Apart.
New York Times – Museum conservators are racing to figure out how to preserve modern artworks and historical objects that are disintegrating.
Designing the Death of a Plastic
New York Times – Decades ago, synthetic polymers became popular because they were cheap and durable. Now, scientists are creating material that self-destructs or breaks down for reuse on command.
Using nature’s motors to deliver drugs
C&EN – Bacteria and sperm have natural advantages over synthetic nanomotors when navigating the body’s byways.
New Species of Sponges Found on the Pacific Seafloor
New York Times – The tiny creatures live on rock nodules containing metals like iron, cobalt and copper that are targeted for deep-sea mining in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone.
The architecture of structured DNA
Nature – Researchers are exploiting the structural properties of DNA to build nanoscale models for use in medicine and materials science.
How heat from the Sun can keep us all cool
Nature – As demand for air conditioning climbs, some see a solution in the very thing that makes us sweat: the Sun.
The new breed of cutting-edge catalysts
Nature – Advances in catalyst research could create a superhighway to clean energy sources and a more-sustainable chemical industry.
Grinding chemicals together in an effort to be greener
New York Times – Milling, or grinding chemicals together without a solvent, could outperform established methods and yet be safe and simple enough for an inexperienced eighth grader to do.