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From a 2022 study in Nature (1) where researchers grew limpet teeth: "The proof-of-concept presented in this study can be scaled up using made-to-measure chiti
by 0x38B 1y ago
From a 2022 study in Nature (1) where researchers grew limpet teeth:
"The proof-of-concept presented in this study can be scaled up using made-to-measure chitin sheets and synthetic substitutes for limpet cell-conditioned media. Given that chitin is currently a waste by-product of the fishing industry⁴⁴, our approach would allow its repurposing into a novel composite material that could substitute for many existing synthetic materials that are manufactured in a polluting or unsustainable manner, and could help solve environmental challenges such as the ocean plastics crisis. Furthermore, as chitin is itself biodegradable, this bioinspired composite meets the key modern engineering challenge of sustainability. In short, this new material has the potential to be manufactured and disposed of without generating harmful waste products."
1: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-31139-0 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-31139-0
- GrantMoyer 1y agoThe Nature article's motivation seems not very well thought out to me, considering the fishing industry is among the most unsustainsbly and polluting industries on earth. It's even an especially large source of ocean plastics.
- gibspaulding 1y agoPositing that your research could contribute to sustainability/DEI/etc. is sort of the researchers equivalent of describing the pile of if statements in your software product as AI. Meaningless but largely harmless box checking to make sure that someone who might give you money doesn’t decline to give you money because someone else did a better job of looking trendy. That’s not to say the research isn’t useful; you’ve just finished reading the interesting part of the abstract. If this were a resume, this would be the obligatory “proficient in Microsoft Office” item.
- lazide 1y agoUsed to be, anyway. Now it’s a sure fire way to not get any gov’t funding in the US anyway. It’s going to be interesting to see how it all shakes out.
- gibspaulding 1y agoYeah, I wasn’t going to get into the current politics around it but that’s actually what made me think of this. https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/only-about-40-of-the-cruz-woke-science https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/only-about-40-of-the-cruz-w...
- zardo 1y agoYou list a tenous military application instead.