Author Archive: Rebecca Gendron

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Lab-grown lamb means you won’t have to be sheepish about ordering the chops

Lab-grown lamb means you won’t have to be sheepish about ordering the chops

May 31, 2021 |

In Australia, a cultured meat startup has claimed production of the world’s first lab-grown lamb. The Spoon reports that Magic Valley is prototyping lab mince, strips, steaks, and chops and is in the process of raising seed funding.  Notably, Magic Valley does not grow its meat using Fetal Bovine Serum, a growth medium commonly used […]

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Living architecture, in-home algae farms on display in Venice

Living architecture, in-home algae farms on display in Venice

May 31, 2021 |

In Italy, an architecture exhibition is displaying how in-home algae cultivation can be used to both purify air and provide food. Bit.Bio.Bot, designed by London’s EcoLogicStudio, consists of algae bioreactor sheets and a vertical garden. The studio, which says algae’s efficient metabolism gives it a “unique biological intelligence,”  believes that algae can be used as […]

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Tom Ford, Entourage star launch degradable plastic contest

Tom Ford, Entourage star launch degradable plastic contest

May 24, 2021 |

In New York, high fashion tastemaker Tom Ford and celebrity-backed environmental consultancy 52HZ are offering a $1.2 million prize for a degradable plastic.  The Tom Ford Plastic Innovation Prize is meant to encourage designers and manufacturers to create an alternative for thin-film plastics that would break down in both soil and ocean conditions.  According to […]

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Gelatinous goo garments showcased in Iceland

Gelatinous goo garments showcased in Iceland

May 24, 2021 |

In Iceland, designer Valdís Steinarsdóttir has developed a gelatin-based material that can be made into seamless articles of clothing using molds. The garments can also be melted down and made into new clothes in a closed-loop.   Traditional clothing production leads to 60 billion square meters of waste annually.   Steinarsdóttir, who displayed a vest […]

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Great things afoot: Hosiery brand introduces castor oil-based tights

Great things afoot: Hosiery brand introduces castor oil-based tights

May 24, 2021 |

In France, hosiery brand Gambettes Box has added two styles of tights that use fibers made from castor oil. The tights include a stylized pois pattern and a pair with diamond shapes. The material comes from Italy’s Fulgar and is trade-named EVO.   Gambettes Box is a subscription box service and previously offered a green […]

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Maine 3D printing center delivers biobased flood barriers

Maine 3D printing center delivers biobased flood barriers

May 24, 2021 |

In Maine, a leading 3D printing technology group has delivered flood barriers made from biobased materials to help support “transport resiliency” and protect coastal infrastructure from extreme weather.  The modular barriers were built by Habib Dagher, executive director of the University of Maine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center, and his team. Because they are modular, […]

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Scottish startup launches “S’WEAT” plant-based water bottle

Scottish startup launches “S’WEAT” plant-based water bottle

May 24, 2021 |

In Scotland, a startup has developed a reusable bottle from wheat straw it hopes will help reduce single-use plastics waste.  Cleverly named S’WHEAT, the bottle is the brainchild of friends Amee Ritchie and Jake Elliott-Hook, two recent university graduates.  The bottled are made from the waste stalks from harvesting wheat, which can be used as […]

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A moo-ving gesture: Big Dairy wants to help cultured milk startups disrupt Big Dairy

A moo-ving gesture: Big Dairy wants to help cultured milk startups disrupt Big Dairy

May 24, 2021 |

In Spain, a leading dairy company is helping cultured milk startups advance their technology by launching a startup incubator.  Pascual Innoventures—the innovation arm of Calidad Pascual, a Spanish dairy company with $1 billion in annual sales—has introduced the Mylkubator to help nurture young cellular agriculture companies looking to completely revolutionize the dairy industry away from […]

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Fun guys on Mars: Mycelium eyed for astronaut houses

Fun guys on Mars: Mycelium eyed for astronaut houses

May 24, 2021 |

In California, a researcher at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California has received additional funding from the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts to evaluate the potential for building astronaut housing from fungi tissue.  Lynn Rothschild, an astrobiologist and synthetic biologist, tells space.com she got the idea from a student team who used mycelium to make a […]

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Vietnamese company develops plastic made from used coffee grounds

Vietnamese company develops plastic made from used coffee grounds

May 24, 2021 |

In Vietnam, AirXcoffee has developed a plastic using used coffee grounds that can be used in disposable tableware and other items currently made from plastic. Dubbed Coffee Bio-Composite, the material is designated food safe by TUV Rheinland and has biobased content between 60% and 80%.  AirXcoffee uses coffee grounds sourced from Vietnamese coffee shops. The […]

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