“Life is plastic, it’s fantastic!” — NOT!! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. From the Alps to the deepest ocean, plastics are everywhere! Microplastics are pieces smaller than a pencil eraser. They take decades to break down naturally. Can robots help? Enter Seyyed Mohsen Beladi-Mousavi
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Silky and Sustainable
Introducing the next heavyweight material champion…SILK! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Plastic…it’s cheap, flexible, durable, colorful…. AND, a nightmare to recycle. Can something else be the new “plastics”? Enter Zongpu Xu from Zhejiang University, and team. They set out to make a SUPER sustainable
Continue readingPlastic Pacman
“You’re not leaving the table until you finish your… plastic?!” This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. A really inconvenient truth? Sort those colored bins as we like, only a small percentage of plastics can actually be recycled. Most end up in landfills, or burned, causing
Continue readingRobot Patrol
“Life is plastic, it’s fantastic!” — NOT!! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. From the Alps to the deepest ocean, plastics are everywhere! Microplastics are pieces smaller than a pencil eraser. They take decades to break down naturally. Can robots help? Enter Seyyed Mohsen Beladi-Mousavi
Continue readingRebuilding Plastic
Is chemistry, ooh. . . as easy as playing with Legos?! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Plastic bags, soda bottles, candy wrappers … Polyethylene (PE) is EVERYWHERE! It’s made from petrochemicals and recycling it usually requires high temperatures — which gobble up energy! Is
Continue readingMattress Meltdown
Time to take out the recycling – cans, bottles, newspaper….MATTRESS? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science, saying… ever wonder why you’re always seeing old mattresses out on the street? Plastic is recycled by melting and reshaping it into something new. But mattresses are made of a weird
Continue readingFantastic Plastic
Reduce, Reuse… Refashion? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Plastics are everywhere – our homes, offices, and sadly our environment. They don’t break down easily so they accumulate in oceans and landfills. So don’t forget to recycle! But how else can we limit our litter?
Continue readingDeep Dive
What menacing secrets lurk in the depths of the ocean? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science,saying…one word: “Plastics!” Plastics have been invading our oceans for years. Unfortunately, many animals, such as sea turtles, mistake them for food. But does plastic reach the creatures dwelling in
Continue readingButane on Wheels
Bicycles. Green energy… in more ways than one! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Hydrocarbons like butane are chemicals used in fuels. Fuels use the energy stored in the bonds of these molecules. Bonds can hold a lot of energy, but too much makes them
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