Awesome Stuff: A Recycling 3D Pen

from the repurposed-plastic dept

Three years ago, the 3Doodler pen became a huge hit on Kickstarter, and for a brief period it seemed like these handheld 3D printing tools might be the next big gadget. But after that initial rush, they never fully took off, and not everyone was satisfied with the performance of the pen itself. Nevertheless, the idea is a compelling one, so for this week's Awesome Stuff we're taking a look at an interesting new offering with an important twist: the Renegade pen.

So what's the key innovation that makes the Renegade interesting? Simple: instead of feeding off of normal 3D printer filament, it prints by recycling the material from any old plastic bottle.

Normal 3D printing is a slow, precise process — most pieces are thoroughly designed and tested in digital form, and iterated as little as possible in printed physical form. But 3D drawing with a freehand pen is a much looser exercise: it's only fun if you can experiment and mess around, and that burns through a whole lot of filament. The Renegade comes with a special cutting tool that lets you quickly and easily cut any bottle into long strips of plastic that feed into the pen, replacing expensive filament and diverting some garbage to a more useful purpose. It can also work with plastic shopping bags and other odds and ends like plastic file folders.

The creators have a working prototype, but of course it remains to be seen just how satisfying and fun it will be to use once it's actually in your hands — 3D pens probably still have a little ways to go before they are truly viable as a general-use tool or toy. But if you're interested in the technology and want a chance to try it out, the Renegade might just be the smartest and most cost effective way to do so.

Filed Under: 3d pen, 3d printing, awesome stuff, plastic

DailyDirt: You Gotta Show Some Flex

from the urls-we-dug-up dept

Sometimes, the key to kicking off a whole new world of technology is a brand new material. The discovery and/or creation of new materials with useful properties is pursued in engineering, chemistry and physics — sometimes with world-changing results, and other times producing only curiosities. Lately, it seems like a lot of the most interesting material advances have to do with flexibility in one way or another, like these four creations that might end up enabling the devices of the future:

• An elastic material that goes from matte to shiny when stretched could have future applications in flexible displays. But there are a lot of tests to be done to see if that's really a possibility — for now, it looks like this substance might be more useful as a passive strain sensor for other materials. [url]
• MIT researchers have taken very early steps towards creating "fabric" that can capture images like a camera lens. The system captures images with a distributed fabric mesh, though all it's captured so far is a rudimentary smiley face. [url]
• "Flexiramics" is an ultra-thin, foldable and flexible material that shares a lot of key properties with ceramics and might help create flexible circuit boards. It's non-conductive and can withstand over 24 hours in a 1,200°C oven. [url]
• This newly-created metallic glass is both hard and elastic, thanks to an almost-completely-disorganized atomic structure. It has the highest impact resistance of any material in its class, and goes by the not-so-memorable name of SAM2X5-630. [url]

After you've finished checking out those links, take a look at our Daily Deals for cool gadgets and other awesome stuff.

Filed Under: cameras, ceramic, elastic, fabric, flexiramics, glass, materials, plastic, sam2x5-630, sensors

DailyDirt: Sealed For Freshness... In Plastic

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

What is a healthy meal? If you look closely enough at almost anything, you'll find it's not as simple as you might expect. Should you eat more fruits and vegetables? Of course you should. But what if the fruit is pre-cut and conveniently packaged (or comes with a free frogurt)? Marketing healthy (or "healthier") foods is making it a bit confusing to know what's really healthy and what's just over-priced and convenient. Yay!

• Whole Foods has apologized for selling peeled tangerines in a plastic containers. Some people complained that pre-peeling tangerines and putting them in plastic was wasteful, but it seems only to apply to single fruits, not when you cut up different fruits and mix them before you sell them in plastic containers. (Or to pre-cut vegetable trays.) [url]
• Selling pre-peeled bananas, though, does seem a bit unnecessary. A few years ago, an Austrian grocery store sold bananas wrapped in clear plastic on a foam tray without banana peels. (At least the argument over which end to start peeling a banana first was neatly avoided.) [url]
• Processed foods are getting a bad reputation, but are Americans really starting to eat fresher foods? The trends point to a "snackification" of food, where people aren't buying sit-down meals as much as pre-portioned snacks. Maybe consumers think they're eating healthier (or trying to), but maybe not. [url]

After you've finished checking out those links, take a look at our Daily Deals for cool gadgets and other awesome stuff.

Filed Under: fast food, food, fruits, health, marketing, meals, packaging, plastic, snackification, snacks
Companies: whole foods

DailyDirt: Plastic Is Everywhere, Run For Your Lives

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Plastic is a relatively new material in our environment, but many kinds of plastic don't decompose -- so it sticks around for a long, long time. But it's so useful -- and who wants to drag around metal or glass bottles? (Ahem, even if you did, many glass/metal bottles are lined with plastic anyway.) We could do a better job of recycling plastic and making sure plastic doesn't end up in the ocean, but we'll probably never get rid of plastic unless we run out of oil.

• Making plastic without chemicals that have estrogenic activity can be done, but some chemical companies are still fighting to make their competitor's products look bad. The dose makes the poison, and what you don't realize is that iocane powder is present in all plastic water bottles. [url]
• An estimated 4.8 to 12.7 million metric tons of plastic waste entered the ocean in 2010. This estimate is also probably a bit low because it only counts the plastic that is buoyant in seawater. [url]
• The FDA says BPA from polycarbonate plastic in beverage containers and food packaging is safe. Go ahead and avoid plastic if you want to, but there are probably worse things in your food. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.

Filed Under: bpa, chemistry, estrogenic activity, plastic, polycarbonate, waste

DailyDirt: Getting A Beer

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Everyone talks about beer at some point, even if they don't drink it or like it. It's a beverage that might have shaped civilization (by providing a source of reliable safe drinking water along with other benefits), and it's a drink that is served all over the world. Here are just a few more links on beer in case you needed more chit-chat topics at the bar.

• Belgian scientists have re-created a beer from a 150-year-old shipwreck found off the coast of Finland. The genetic profiles of the yeast and microbes used to brew the beer were analyzed to make a beer that's a bit sweeter than modern beers. It's taken a few years to replicate this ancient beer, but it'll be sold commercially now for over $100 a bottle soon. [url]
• Beer sometimes comes in a plastic bottle, but not commonly. There are a few reasons why plastic isn't a good way to bottle beer: plastic can give beer undesired flavors, plastic isn't suitable for pasteurization processes, plastic bottles made for beer might not be easily recycled, etc, etc. [url]
• The FAA has forced a beer delivery drone service to shut down. Lakemaid Beer wanted to deliver its brew to local fishermen around Minnesota, but the FAA says at least 4 regulations were being broken by this beer maker's commercial drone delivery operation. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.

Filed Under: beer, bottles, drone delivery, food, packaging, plastic, yeast
Companies: faa, lakemaid beer

DailyDirt: Fighting Off Teeny Tiny Threats...

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

The population of superbugs that are resistant to antibiotic drugs is a growing concern. If we run out of effective medicines to fight off bacterial infections, it won't be pretty. Fortunately, we might have a few more tricks up our sleeves, and hopefully, these new tactics will be tested and ready by the time our current line of antibiotics stop working. Here are just a few links on how we might save ourselves.

• Bacteriophages are viruses that can infect bacteria, and phage therapy could use these viruses to combat all kinds of disease-causing microbes. Using viruses to fight bacterial infections has been widely used in Russia and other parts of eastern Europe, but engineering viruses is not quite a mature field (yet). [url]
• Attacking the cell membranes of bacteria could be an effective approach to killing off antibiotic-resistant bacteria. If new drugs can selectively break down bacterial membranes, then they won't even need to enter the cells.. and no resistance can be developed. [url]
• Plastics that prevent the attachment of biofilms on their surfaces could be useful in eliminating bacterial infections from common medical devices. These materials prevent bacterial growth by resisting bacterial attachment at the earliest stages, so catheters and other medical tools coated in these polymers could put an end to a large number of hospital infections. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.

Filed Under: antibiotics, bacteria, bacteriophages, biofilm, drug-resistant, health, infection, microbes, phage therapy, plastic

DailyDirt: What Will Humanity's Legacy Be?

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Humans have obviously had a significant impact on the Earth. We've killed off various species and built stuff that may long outlast our grandchildren (e.g., the pyramids, the Long Now clock, nuclear waste facilities, etc.). At some point, we might want to think about what we'll leave behind after we're gone ourselves. Here are just a few links on planning for the future for our world.

• A professor of water management looked at humanity's overall environmental footprint -- and concluded our behavior is unsustainable. It's not such a big surprise, but the report also points out that technology alone probably won't bring us back to sustainable levels if we don't alter our consumption habits. [url]
• Economically, though, maybe you shouldn't worry too much -- and just consume as much as you can when you're young and able to enjoy it. If you're not planning to live too long, it doesn't make much sense to save for the future or work long hours hoping that you'll be able to enjoy retirement someday. [url]
• Humanity's new, long-lasting techno-fossils might be plastiglomerates -- a new type of rock made up of plastics, volcanic sediment and various other kinds of beach debris. These plastic rocks might not last as long as other kinds of geological materials, but their traces could become a distinguishing feature of the Anthropocene era. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.

Filed Under: anthropocene, environment, footprint, global climate change, impact, long now, plastic, plastiglomerates, rocks, sustainability

DailyDirt: Looking Through Better Windows

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Glass is a material that has been known to people since before 2000 BC (and as far back as 3500 BC). It's everywhere now. We even carry around smartphones with glass touchscreens. But until we come up with "transparent aluminum" to replace glass (that's not just transparent to extreme UV light), we're still working with silica and certain polymers to make cool transparent materials. Here are just a few examples demonstrating the future of windows.

• Imagine a window that stops sound but lets in a breeze -- you need to make that window out of material with a negative bulk modulus. It's been done with panes of acrylic drilled with holes that creates a resonance chamber that attenuates a range of sound frequencies. [url]
• Solar panels are usually installed on rooftops, but Organic Photovoltaic (OPV) cells could turn windows into energy-generating fixtures. Unfortunately, only opaque solar cells can maximize the amount of light energy converted into electricity.... [url]
• Smarter windows can be touchscreens or contain embedded wireless antennas. Yay! Can't wait until windows can display a translucent blue screen of death. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.

Filed Under: energy, glass, organic photovoltaic cell, plastic, solar cell, soundproof, transparent aluminum, window

Harvesting Waste Plastic In Emerging Economies As A Currency, To Reduce Pollution And Improve Lives

from the nothing-if-not-ambitious dept

The very best solutions not only come up with a brilliant answer to an important problem, but often manage to help address other issues too. Here's one that seems to fit that bill, pointed out to us by Izabella Kaminska. It's called Plastic Bank, and its core idea is to address the growing problem of plastic waste on the land and in the world's oceans and rivers, especially in poorer countries. But along the way, it might achieve much more. Here's the idea:

The Plastic Bank is setting up plastic repurposing centers around the world, where there's an abundance of both waste plastic and poverty.

We are empowering people to harvest plastics as a currency they can exchange for tools, household items, parts & 3D printing.

Our mission is to remove plastic waste from the land, oceans and waterways while helping people ascend from poverty and transition into entrepreneurship.

The exchange process for our recycled "Social Plastic" improves the life of a disadvantaged person while cleaning our planet.

Our goal is to lead the movement towards worldwide demand for the use of Social Plastic in everyday products. The higher the worldwide demand becomes, the higher the reward will be for harvesting Social Plastic.

Sounds too good to be true? Maybe it is -- it's evidently the early days for the project, so perhaps turning what seems a clever approach into a viable endeavor might prove to be difficult or even impossible. Still, it's good to see people daring to think big in this way, and working on things that matter -- rather than just launching another social network or iPhone app....

Follow me @glynmoody on Twitter or identi.ca, and +glynmoody on Google+

Filed Under: plastic, plastic bank, pollution, reuse, waste plastic

DailyDirt: More Plastic Cars

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

It's been a while since the Pontiac Fiero was considered a "radical" car. If you don't remember it, the Fiero had a plastic body -- which some folks said made it unsafe (even though owners of it were more likely to be injured from an engine fire). Plastic cars have continued to improve, and here are just a few more car parts that are being made from environmentally-friendly plastic.

• Bridgestone has designed some air-free tires from recyclable plastics. These tires aren't quite ready for full-size cars yet, but maybe someday no one will have to check the air pressure in tires. [url]
• Replacing steel in cars with composite materials will make our four-wheeled friends lighter and more fuel efficient. Unfortunately, carbon fiber car parts are still a bit too expensive, but that could change.... [url]
• Car parts from mad cows? Does anyone want to drive a car made from infected cow skulls, brains, nerves, eyes, tonsils and spinal cords? Oh, Canada! [url]
• To discover more interesting car-related content, check out what's driving around StumbleUpon. [url]  

By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

Filed Under: carbon fiber, cars, environmentally friendly, lightweight cars, mad cows, plastic, tires
Companies: bridgestone, pontiac