A look at the demand for plastics
Plastics are everywhere, few products are as useful. Yet, demand for virgin plastics is at risk, as more regions push for bans on single-use plastics, incentivising reuse and substitutions. Rising concerns over environmental impact are driving innovation for circular solutions to enable the materials transition that are expected to impact demand.
Soft and bendy electronics
A US group has created a soft, flexible material that could pave the way for new electronic devices. Potential applications include information storage, energy transduction, biomedical devices and ultralow power electronics. ‘We try to create synthetic materials with interesting functions that are inspired by nature,’ says Samuel Stupp, a materials scientist at Northwestern University, Illinois.
ACI presses on TSCA update
The American Cleaning Institute (ACI), the US trade association for the cleaning product supply chain, has called on the US Congress to press the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to remove the ‘bottleneck in innovation’ caused by delays in the EPA’s new chemicals review process.
World’s first metagenomics initiative aims to detect infectious disease
The world’s first metagenomics initiative has been launched by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) to aid in the detection of infectious disease that could threaten the UK. The Surveillance Collaboration & Analysis programme (eSCAPE) has been in development during 2024. It is piloting the use of metagenomic data for public health surveillance and pathogen analysis.
Turning seawater into hydrogen
Turning seawater to hydrogen is one of ten UK projects to be funded by a research hub at the University of Bath. The ambition is to generate hydrogen where freshwater supplies are limited.