Scientists always have their minds working towards innovations to make the world today more advanced when it comes to different technological discoveries. From simple items to more complex ones, here are 5 of the best new materials which are recently created by scientists:
Fungal foam – Proposed as a green alternative to Styrofoam, Mushroom Packaging from Evocative Design makes use of mycelium or the mushroom roots in order to come up with the biodegradable alternative to the petroleum-based and non-biodegradable plastic foams.
Shrilk – Researchers from Harvard University’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering have come up with a bio-inspired plastic which mimics the function of insect wings; strong enough to lift and protect their host, and light enough for flight. It is composed of chitin from shrimp cells, and can be used to manufacture plastic bags, packaging materials, and even diapers which can easily degrade.
Qmilch – Anke Domaske, a 28 year old German biochemist, is also a fashion designer. She has fused her two fields of interest to come up with Qmilch—a kind of sustainable fabric which is made from milk proteins. This process is not that new since the act of making textile products from milk started back in the 1930s. What made Anke’s work novel is the fact that she has found a completely organic method to produce a hypoallergenic fabric. The textile industry has yet to adopt mass production of Qmilch though.
Mega magnets – Magnets are used for industrial mechanisms such as turbines, cars, and other machines. However, earth metals with such properties can be really rare. Electron Energy Corp teamed up with the researchers from the University of Delaware to increase the strength of the rare earth magnets to as much as 30%. The goal of these scientists is to reduce the loss of motor efficiency, even when the motors would operate at much higher speeds. Neodynium magnet is one of the most widely used rare earth magnets today.
Electric ink – These inks are metal free and have conducting abilities. They will play a big role in the production of sensors, screens, and even batteries for most pieces of gadgets today. This kind of ink is also much easier to make than conventional inks for electronics, adheres to more kinds of materials, and can even be printed simply by using a desktop device.
These recent innovations are still being improved, and after some time, making it to mainstream can help the people of today have eco-friendly and more efficient materials to use.