Researchers make game-changing discovery using bamboo that could revolutionize how we build cars: 'Our composite can be used in various sectors'
Cars are around 50% plastic — dashboards, door panels, bumpers, steering wheels, and more. Plastic is cheap, sturdy, and long-lasting, so finding a sustainable replacement has been difficult, but researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology in Guwahati have developed a promising alternative.
Researchers used Bambusa tulda fibers, a strong, fast-growing bamboo native to the Indian subcontinent, and a bio-based epoxy resin to create a material with "excellent mechanical strength, thermal stability, low moisture absorption, and cost-effectiveness," per India Today NE.
Reducing our global reliance on plastic is urgent. Every year, the world produces over 450 million tons of plastic, and less than 10% of it is recycled. The rest ends up in landfills, degrading into microplastics, or as litter, contaminating waterways and harming wildlife.
Suppose we continue at this rate of plastic production and consumption. In that case, we can expect more animals to die from plastic ingestion and entanglement, a higher presence of microplastics in our water, food, and bodies, and rising temperatures that cause more frequent extreme weather events.
Thankfully, researchers across the globe are working to find sustainable solutions to our plastic problem. Plastic alternatives, like plant-based biopolymers that can completely dissolve in just 10 days, could replace a majority of single-use plastics. New methods of recycling old plastic, like plastic-eating waxworms, can keep plastic out of landfills, oceans, and our bodies.
Dr. Poonam Kumari, who led the development team for the bamboo epoxy, believes the material will have a wide range of uses.
"Our composite can be used in various sectors, including automotive, electronics, aerospace, and sustainable construction. It is a green replacement for plastic, wood, and even metal components, aligning with the Green Tech Revolution and India's Make in India initiative," Dr. Kumari said, per India Today NE.
Join our free newsletter for weekly updates on the latest innovations improving our lives and shaping our future, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Wall Street Journal
an hour ago
- Wall Street Journal
The Future of AI Lies in Monkeys, Not Microchips
The artificial-intelligence boom has all the hallmarks of a gold rush: frenzied investment, sweeping promises and a race to build ever-bigger models. But behind the hype lies a remarkable shortsightedness—one that threatens AI's promise to transform our world. AI systems, including the most powerful large language models, rely on computational force. Despite their apparent sophistication, these models don't understand the world; they merely identify statistical patterns in massive data sets. They can't form abstract concepts, adapt to unfamiliar environments or learn from sparse information the way a human toddler can. They function only with enormous hardware, constant access to vast training data, and unsustainable amounts of electrical power.
Gizmodo
2 hours ago
- Gizmodo
Stone Age People Brutalized Their Prisoners of War, New Evidence Suggests
When we think of Stone Age people, most imagine small communities living in caves, cutting into their most recent hunt with primitive tools, and imitating their environment with illustrative rock art. People during the Neolithic, however—the last stage of the Stone Age (around 9000 to 3300 BCE)—also waged wars and absolutely demolished their enemies. In a study published today in the journal Science Advances, researchers present horrific evidence suggesting that Neolithic people in northeastern France mutilated foreign invaders. Their findings might represent some of the earliest known indications of gruesome victory celebrations related to war. The international team of researchers analyzed skeletal remains and severed limbs from burial pits dating to between 4300 and 4150 BCE at two sites near Strasbourg, Achenheim and Bergheim. 'A total of 82 humans are analyzed,' they wrote in the study. Their analysis revealed 'differences between victims and nonvictims and suggest that the former were members of invading groups brutally killed, perhaps exposed and deposited in pits—together with trophies in the form of severed upper limbs—by local groups in what might be one of the earliest well-documented instances of martial victory celebrations in prehistoric Europe,' they explained. Previous research in the Upper Rhine Valley had already shown that this time period was marked by military invasions and cultural upheaval, but scientists didn't know whether the human remains at Achenheim and Bergheim were of locals or foreigners and/or prisoners of war. In addition to the severed upper limbs, the researchers also identified injuries such as skull fractures that had not healed. The team, including Valladolid University's Teresa Fernandez-Crespo, suggests these victims met violent ends during war. The individuals without these sorts of unhealed injuries, on the other hand, likely received a regular burial. To investigate the differences between those who were brutally killed and those who weren't, Fernandez-Crespo and her colleagues conducted isotopic analyses. By identifying ratios of isotopes—variants of the same element—in the remains, they discovered that, while the non-victims were locals, the victims of war violence came from other regions. According to the researchers, this indicates that the victims were likely invaders killed by locals. 'In view of their demise, it is probable that the identities of these victims can be attributed to socially remote, nonlocal enemies that became trophies or captives during battles or raids and that may have been considered by their captors as not properly 'human' and hence warranting such treatment,' the researchers explained. For once, the term 'overkill' applies literally.
New York Times
4 hours ago
- New York Times
Fewer People Are Reading for Fun, Study Finds
Any reader knows the unique delight of settling down with a good book. But over the past two decades, there has been a steady decline in Americans who read for fun, according to a study published on Wednesday. Researchers from University College London and the University of Florida examined national data from 2003 to 2023 and found that the share of people who reported reading for pleasure on a given day fell to 16 percent in 2023 from a peak of 28 percent in 2004 — a drop of about 40 percent. It declined around 3 percent each year over those two decades. There is evidence that reading for pleasure has been declining since the 1940s, the researchers said, but they called the size of the latest decrease 'surprising,' given that the study defined reading broadly, encompassing books, magazines and newspapers in print, electronic or audio form. Many previous studies' results could be questioned because they didn't explicitly account for e-books and audiobooks, said Daisy Fancourt, a co-author of the study and a professor of psychobiology and epidemiology at University College London. The study did not answer the question of why Americans were reading less. But the authors suggested some possible explanations, including increased use of social media and other technology, or more time spent at work because of economic pressure. Further research would be needed to confirm those theories. The decline in reading could have implications for Americans' learning, relationships and overall well-being, the researchers said. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
