Microplastics have been found to be so light they can be carried on the wind and transported to far-flung parts of the ocean, including those that appear to be clear of the pollutant. Microplastics – which are defined as particles smaller than 5mm in diameter – can stay airborne for hours or days. This … Read more
Plastic waste is able to travel thousands of kilometres in just a few months through rivers and oceans, a new study has found. A team from the University of Exeter and the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) inserted GPS and satellite tags into 500ml bottles and released them into the Ganges river in India. The … Read more
A spider web-inspired solution made possible using 3D printing could provide unprecedented protection for smartphone screens in the future. A research team at Polytechnique Montréal, Canada, has demonstrated a fabric designed using additive manufacturing which they claim can absorb up to 96 per cent of impact energy without breaking. This could lead to the creation … Read more
A system that collects tyre dust – particles of tyre that are emitted when a vehicle is in operation – as they are emitted, has won its creators the James Dyson Award. Tyre wear is the second-largest microplastic pollutant in our ocean after single-use plastic and accounts for up to 50 per cent of PM2.5 … Read more