Plastic

Modern scientific techniques are rapidly improving our understanding of how plastic pollution can impact marine organisms, and a new study has demonstrated how they can also be used to understand the plight of creatures past.

Most plastics don’t break down easily – and when they do, they create problematic microplastic particles. A new type of compostable plastic is embedded with enzymes that, when triggered, quickly break the material down to its constituent molecules.

Researchers at Yale University have developed a bioplastic made using wood byproducts. The material boasts high strength and durability, but also has the ability to degrade completely in the space of just three months.

Microplastics are increasingly found polluting waterways and causing unknown damage to the health of animals and humans. Now, a new study provides evidence there's cross over with another looming public health threat – antibiotic-resistant superbugs.

MIT engineers have found a new use for a common plastic, spinning polyethylene into fabric that can passively cool the wearer by allowing heat through and moisture to evaporate. The discovery could see waste plastic bags being turned into sportswear.

A group of scientists studying the flow of plastic into the ocean have found that the Ganges and two nearby rivers are responsible for pumping as much as three billion microplastic particles into the Indian Ocean each day.

As useful as plastics are in our everyday life, they’re difficult to recycle, with most ending up in landfill or the environment. Now, researchers in Japan have used a novel catalyst to recycle a common plastic into useful products like fuel and wax.

A team has developed a process that turns waste plastic into an adhesive that's more valuable. The goal was to find ways to "upcycle" plastics by putting them to new uses while preserving the properties that made them attractive in the first place.

In an effort to better understand how microplastics are absorbed by organisms in aquatic environments, scientists have carried out a study that shows how a coating of biomolecules can act as a "Trojan horse" that sneaks them into living cells.

Making plastic materials out of biomass offers a number of environmental benefits, but these bioplastics tend to underperform in a few key areas. Scientists may have found a solution to one such shortcoming; the inability to contain boiling liquids.

A new study has shed further light on the way plastic waste moves through the marine environment with the use of tagged plastic bottles. The bottles were dropped into the Ganges river and some ended up thousands of kilometers away.

The Futuro is a rare UFO-like home that has gained cult status since its construction back in the 1960s. If you've always wanted to live in a house that looks like something from The Jetsons, you may be in luck as a model has come up for sale.