Lifeboat Foundation

This process could provide a cheap, sustainable replacement for foam, timber, and plastic.

The future of the construction industry is green„ with scientists developing a way to grow building materials using knitted molds and the root network of fungi. Previous trials with similar composites have been made but the shape and growth constraints of the organic material made it difficult to develop diverse applications.

Now, a team of designers, engineers, and scientists in the Living Textiles Research Group, part of the Hub for Biotechnology in the Built Environment at Newcastle University, which is funded by Research England, have used the knitted molds as a flexible framework or ‘formwork’, creating a composite called ‘mycocrete’ which is stronger and more versatile in terms of shape and form.

Most biological cells have a fixed place in an organism. However, there are instances where these cells acquire mobility, enabling them to traverse the body. Such occurrences are seen during processes like wound recovery, or when cancerous cells divide indiscriminately and spread throughout the body. The characteristics of mobile and stationary cells exhibit several differences, one notable one being the structure of their cytoskeleton.

This structure of protein filaments makes the cells stable, stretchable, and resistant to external forces. In this context, “intermediate filaments” play an important role. Interestingly, two different types of intermediate filaments are found in mobile and stationary cells. Researchers at the University of Göttingen and ETH Zurich have succeeded in precisely measuring and describing the mechanical properties of the two filaments. In the process, they discovered parallels with non-biological materials. The results have been published in the journal Matter.

The scientists used optical tweezers to investigate how the filaments behave under tension. They attached the ends of the filaments to tiny plastic beads, which they then moved in a controlled way with the help of a laser beam. This stretched the two different types of filaments, which are known as vimentin and keratin. The researchers worked out which forces were necessary for the stretching and how the different filaments behaved when they were stretched several times.

Year 2020 Turning trash into graphene for cheap.

Flash Joule heating of inexpensive carbon sources is used to produce gram-scale quantities of high-quality graphene in under a second, without the need for a furnace, solvents or reactive gases.

Nematicity was recently found in the kagome superconductor CsV3Sb5. Here, by performing elastoresistance measurements on Ti-doped CsV3Sb5, the authors find that nematic fluctuations play an important role in enhancing superconductivity in this material.

The Emerald Ash Borer Network says that once the beetles reach their adult stage, the metallic green bugs will eat up foliage on ash trees – their only food source. But it’s the larvae that eat up the inner bark of ash trees and prevent nutrients and water from circulating.

Once that happens, Littleton officials said the tree that’s been attacked becomes structurally unsound and will die within just a few years.

It’s believed that the insects were introduced to the U.S. from Asia after tagging along on solid wood packing material, the network said. They were first discovered in the U.S. near Detroit in 2002, and have since expanded to at least 35 states as well as at least five Canadian provinces. Ash trees will typically lose most of their canopy within two years of an infestation and die within three to four years, the National Invasive Species Information Center says.

Danish architect Bjarke Ingels has collaborated with clothing brand Vollebak to design an entirely self-sufficient, off-grid island home in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Planned for an island within Jeddore Harbour, the house is designed to exemplify the clothing brand’s ideals and Ingels’ studio BIG’s “philosophy of hedonistic sustainability”.

“Vollebak is using technology and material innovation to create clothes that are as sustainable and resilient as they are beautiful,” said Ingels.

Engineers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have developed a new test that can predict the durability of cement in seconds to minutes—rather than the hours it takes using current methods. The test measures the behavior of water droplets on cement surfaces using computer vision on a device that costs less than $200. The researchers said the new study could help the cement industry move toward rapid and automated quality control of their materials.

The results of the study, led by Illinois civil and environmental engineering professor Nishant Garg, are reported in the journal npj Materials Degradation. The paper is titled “Rapid prediction of cementitious initial sorptivity via surface wettability.”

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Chipperfield has created exquisitely detailed stone and concrete projects worldwide. Here are 5 projects demonstrating his adept use of raw materials. #Pritzker2023

Although there are several methods of 3D-printing metal objects, all of them involve the application of heat – which isn’t conducive to producing certain heat-sensitive electronics, among other things. A new gel, however, can be used to print such items at room temperature.

Created by a team of scientists at North Carolina State University, the material starts out as a solution consisting of copper microparticles suspended in water. Microparticles of another metal, known as eutectic gallium indium alloy (EGaIn) are then added, as is hydrochloric acid.

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