Clean and Green

One man’s trash is another man’s…disinfectant? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Time for spring cleaning! Get out those sprays, scrubs and solvents! But all those chemicals – so toxic to us AND our environment! Is there a CLEANER way to CLEAN? Fengbo Yu at

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Vanilla Warfare

Reduce, reuse, recycle…VANILLA? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Plastic wrapping, cups, utensils, oh my! Plastic production is contributing to a global waste crisis! One type of plastic in particular, P.E.T, can be recycled — but it doesn’t break down easily. Is there a sweet

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Cracking Recycling

Common plastic items like food and beverage containers CAN be recycled. But is the juice always worth the SQUEEZE? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Our oceans and landfills are overflowing with plastic waste. Hundreds of millions of tons are produced each year. Recycling can

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Recycled Refills

Thrifting and upcycling are so chic! But would you buy lightly used… medication?!? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Recycling gives things a second life. Cool idea! So why not recycle medicine? Enter Dominic Bennet from the University of Liverpool in England. Bennet was looking

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Rare Recyclables

One man’s trash is another man’s… smart phone? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Electronics keep society wired, but how does Mother Nature like them? Electronics rely on rare earth elements–think cerium, neodymium, and dysprosium. Mining them is expensive AND damages the environment. Extracting them

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Plastic 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

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Electronic Waste

Got a drawer full of old phone chargers?  This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science, saying – who DOESN’T? Dead electronics live a LONG life. They’re useless – but we CAN’T just throw them away! When we FINALLY toss them, will they ever be re-used? Enter

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Clean and Green

One man’s trash is another man’s…disinfectant? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Time for spring cleaning! Get out those sprays, scrubs and solvents! But all those chemicals – so toxic to us AND our environment! Is there a CLEANER way to CLEAN? Fengbo Yu at

Continue reading

Vanilla Warfare

Reduce, reuse, recycle…VANILLA? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Plastic wrapping, cups, utensils, oh my! Plastic production is contributing to a global waste crisis! One type of plastic in particular, P.E.T, can be recycled — but it doesn’t break down easily. Is there a sweet

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Rebuilding Plastic

Large pile of Legos

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

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