In London, biotech startup Biohm has created a line of lampshades using coffee waste and orange peels. Made from Orb, Biohm’s name for its “refuse bio-compound” derived from agricultural byproducts and plant-based adhesive, the shapes demonstrate a collaboration between “maker” and “matter.” In other words, the maker attempts to create a desired geometry, while the […]
In Australia, Macquarie University professor Alexandra Carthey has created biodegradable shelters for small critters that often struggle in the wake of brush fires. The six-sided cardboard pyramids are easy to deploy and biodegrade as the forest recovers, says Carthey, a research fellow in the Department of Biological Science. She noted that similar shelters exist for […]
In Singapore, regulators have approved Eat Just’s cultivated chicken breast for human consumption—just the second such approval globally after the forward-thinking nation gave Eat Just’s cultivated chicken nuggets the green light last year. The stamp of approval paves the way for restaurants to begin serving Eat Just’s chicken. “A lot has changed in our world […]
In Israel, cultivated meat maker Future Meat has raised a whopping $347 million in a Series B funding, which it will use to build a production facility in the US and bring lab-grown meat to US market in 2022. Several sources say the fund raise is the largest for a cultivated meat producer to date. […]
In South Korea, Dokdo shrimp has been cultivated in a lab for the first time. CellMEAT says it has created several prototypes with different sizes and shapes, and all were produced with serum-free culture medium. The company will now work to scale up production and lower costs. Currently, CellMEAT can produce about 5 kilograms of […]
In Austria, designer Philip Nitschke has unveiled a suicide machine complete with a 3-D printed, removable coffin for efficient removal and burial of the machine’s most recent user. Dubbed Sarco, short for sarcophagus, the machine allows users to enter the wood coffin and, by simply pressing a button, flood the space with nitrogen. A painless […]
In Spain, popular fast fashion brand Zara has unveiled a party dress partially made from Chinese steel factory emissions. The material is made by feeding waste gas to microbes developed by LanzaTech. The microbes produce ethanol, which is then processed into monothylene glycol, a precursor to polyester. About 20% of the carbon used to […]
In Germany, adidas and biobased sneaker pioneer Allbirds have announced they will scale up their low-carbon footwear collaboration to a larger 2022 launch. In May, the two companies unveiled Futurecraft.Footprint, a performance running shoe with a lower carbon footprint—2.94kg CO2e per pair—than either company had ever achieved on their own. The “design sprint” to engineer […]
In Montreal, vegan brand Matt + Natt will begin incorporating leather made from apple juice industry waste into its handbags. The first bags to use the material—dubbed AppleSkin—will be its forthcoming Studio 901 collection. “After an abundance of research, sweat, and tears, it’s finally here … The collection of all collections … One that is […]
In the UK, scientists at Cambridge University have developed biodegradable glitter made from fruit pulp that they hope will provide a sparkly alternative to conventional, microplastics-spreading glitter. “Conventional pigments, like your everyday glitter, are not produced sustainably,” says Professor Silvia Vignolini of Cambridge’s Department of Chemistry. “They get into the soil, the ocean and contribute […]
