blog posts

• Data centers use massive energy and water. Here’s how to build them better

  by Laura BarnesAug 29, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Fast Company, 8/11/25

  The race to build AI infrastructure is draining power grids and water supplies. But with the right innovation, tomorrow’s data centers could clean the air, grow food, and power entire communities.

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• Scientists turn grapevine waste into clear, strong films that vanish in days

  by Laura BarnesAug 28, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: South Dakota State University, 8/13/25

  Amid growing concerns over plastic waste and microplastics, researchers are turning agricultural leftovers into biodegradable packaging. Using cellulose extracted from unlikely sources, including grapevine canes, they have created strong, transparent films that break down in just 17 days without leaving harmful residue.

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• Inside Rothy’s quest to create recycled velvet shoes

  by Laura BarnesAug 27, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Fast Company, 8/12/25

  The brand’s recycled plastic shoes have a distinct look and texture. Now Rothy’s is bringing a new material to its roster.

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• Bioreactors reduce phosphorus from agricultural drainage water, Illinois study shows

  by Laura BarnesAug 26, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: University of Illinois College of ACES, 8/11/25

  Tile drainage is a common practice used in agricultural fields to remove excess water, but it also transports harmful nutrients into water bodies, contributing to algal blooms that deprive aquatic life of oxygen. Woodchip bioreactors are an efficient way to reduce nitrogen pollution by treating the water as it exits the field. However, these denitrifying bioreactors may leach phosphorus from the woodchips into the environment. A new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign evaluates data from 10 bioreactors in Illinois to determine whether they are a source of phosphorus pollution.

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• These industrial chic benches are made out of an unexpected material

  by Laura BarnesAug 25, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Fast Company, 8/11/25

  Concert barriers are built to be baked in the hot sun, transported through busy venues, battered by excited concertgoers, and, ultimately, disposed of. A company in Paris is giving them a second life. 

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• A dram good idea – turning whisky waste into sustainable packaging

  by Joy ScrogumAug 22, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: University of Dundee, 8/11/25

  Arbikie Distillery has partnered with Dr Dongyang Sun, Edinburgh Napier University, and Dr. Wenbin Zhou, University of Dundee, to use mycelium, the root structure of fungi, and distillery by-products like spent grain to create durable, lightweight packaging. The material created is impact-resistant, fire-retardant, and fully compostable, offering an eco-friendly alternative to plastic. Over the next 10 months, the project team will focus on proof of concept, testing the material, and the design. Funded by Scotland Beyond Net Zero – a coalition of leading climate and sustainability experts from Scotland's universities – this project is one of 11 new research collaborations aimed at accelerating Scotland's transition to net zero. Each project involves cross-sector collaborations to address sustainability challenges in energy, finance, food, the built environment, natural systems, and transport.

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• Researchers advance effort to turn spent coffee grounds into food packaging

  by Joy ScrogumAug 21, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Oregon State University, 3/21/25

  Researchers from Oregon State and the Rural Development Administration in South Korea have made a key advance in turning spent coffee grounds into food packaging materials that can extend the shelf life of products. Their findings were published in the Journal of Food Science.
  
  An estimated 60 million tons of spent coffee grounds are generated worldwide annually. Most end up in landfills and release methane, a potent greenhouse gas. That has led researchers to study other uses for coffee grounds, such as incorporating them into biofuels, cosmetics, catalysts and composite materials, including concrete, and now food packaging materials. The researchers believe coffee grounds could be used to make different food packages, including sheets between sliced cheese, pads underneath fresh meat and pads in clamshell containers used to package strawberries.

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• Exposure to PFAS, ‘forever chemicals’, linked to increased type 2 diabetes risk

  by Joy ScrogumAug 20, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Medical News Today, 7/24/25

  Vishal Midya is the corresponding author of a new study recently published in the journal eBioMedicine that found exposure to a class of synthetic chemicals called perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)Trusted Source — also known as "forever chemicals" — may increase a person's risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

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• New research uncovers gene impacts of PFAS exposure in firefighters

  by Joy ScrogumAug 19, 2025 9:00 am

  Medical Express, 7/25/25

  Researchers at the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health found that certain kinds of long-lasting chemicals firefighters are exposed to may affect the activity of genes linked to cancer and other diseases. The findings appear in the journal Environmental Research. The study is among the first to connect common industrial chemicals called PFAS—per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances—to changes in microRNAs, or miRNAs, which are molecules that act as guardrails to help control gene expression.

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• Researchers at Notre Dame detect ‘forever chemicals’ in reusable feminine hygiene products

  by Joy ScrogumAug 18, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: University of Notre Dame, 7/22/25

  The results of a study conducted by researchers from Notre Dame and Indiana University focusing on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in reusable feminine hygiene products have been published in Environmental Science & Technology.  Most of the samples contained PFAS concentrations low enough to be characterized by study authors as "non-intentionally fluorinated." But period underwear (33 percent) and reusable pads (25 percent) had the greatest rates of "intentional fluorination." 

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