Seaweed Drink Pods and Unique Lace Bras
- daisypope
- May 6, 2019
- 4 min read
After a two week break in Italy I'm back with an interesting mixture of new innovations this week. Starting at the London Marathon and their distribution of seaweed drinks pods, to snow electricity, an egg-based material and finally unique bras made for breast cancer patients.
Edible Seaweed Drink
I am a keen runner myself, having entered various races from mud runs to half marathons - however I have never really thought about the plastic bottles and cups given out at water stations and the impact this has on the environment. Last Sunday was the London Marathon, but shockingly last year around 760,000 plastic bottles were thrown on to the street! That is an astounding number considering just over 40,000 people ran the marathon, that's an average of 19 bottles per person!?! Imagine the impact this could have on the environment?... So with this years focus on reducing single use plastics the London Marathon also handed out over 30,000 edible drinks capsules filled with Lucozade. They are called Ooho pods and are made by Skipping Rocks Lab. The membrane of the pods are made from a material called Notpla, which uses brown seaweed and decomposes within 4-6 weeks. The whole pod can be put in your mouth to consume or you can tear off an end and drink out of it. It is a fantastic way to lessen the use of single use plastics. The pods are also being used for sauces at takeaway restaurants. As a runner however I'm not so sure about it... Could you get enough water and hydration from the pods? You might need quite a few as they are fairly small. Also in preparation for a marathon you have to meticulously plan your hydration, but how can you plan without having the pods to hand to practise with?... I'll be interested to see what other solutions are created to lessen the need for single use plastics during races. See more at https://www.dezeen.com/2019/04/29/london-marathon-ooho-edible-drinks-capsules-seaweed/.
Snow Electricity Generator
In the quest to create more renewable electricity solar panels are an ever more popular way to achieve this. However, what happens when the solar panels are covered in snow? No electricity is produced... however a team at the University of California have solved this issue. They have taken advantage of the energy producing potential of snow and created something called a snow-based triboelectric nanogenerator. It utilises the static electricity of snow using silicone, which has a negative charge. But snow is positively charged, so when they come in to contact the electrons are exchanged and boom... electricity is produced.
'Snow is already charged, so we thought, why not bring another material with the opposite charge and extract the charge to create electricity?" said chemistry and biochemisty researcher Maher El-Kady, a member of the team and a co-author on the report they have published in the journal Nano Energy.' (https://www.dezeen.com/2019/05/02/snow-nanogenerator-would-allow-solar-panels-to-generate-energy-on-wintry-days/)
Currently the device only produces a small amount of electricity however with developments it could really make a difference. It is also hoped to be used in snow sports to track fitness and also predict weather conditions. It's a great concept and means that solar panels could be used all year round rather than just on sunnier days. It could be particularly useful in snowier countries that perhaps don't have solar panels due to them getting covered in snow. See more info at https://www.dezeen.com/2019/05/02/snow-nanogenerator-would-allow-solar-panels-to-generate-energy-on-wintry-days/.
How Do you Like Your Eggs?
This week German Designer Basse Stittgen has been highlighting the issue of food waste by creating tableware made from out of date eggs.
"Annually, an average of 6.4 billion hens lay 1.1 trillion eggs," said Stittgen. "Simultaneously, one third of all food per year is lost or wasted, which includes eggs that have a short shelf-life and whose fragile shell is not the most suitable protection against processing and transport."
We are always told that food industry is one of the biggest contributors to global warming, so Stittgen has come up with an interesting design to highlight this. The leftover eggs are collected from local bakeries before the whites are dehydrated into a powder and the shells are crushed. The two are mixed then heat pressed into a mould to form the tableware. The protein that is found in eggs whites forms a polymer under heat and pressure, which means no plasticiser is needed. Stittgen highlights that it's not just the products we use that need to change, changes are needed in the behaviour of producers and the overconsumption from consumers to really make a difference. Apart from looking good however, the egg tableware could spark a conversation about overconsumption and go some way to highlighting the issue. See more on https://www.dezeen.com/2019/05/03/basse-stittgen-bioplastic-design/.
Bespoke Lace Bra
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK. Many patients have full or partial mastectomies and will not immediately have a breast reconstruction. Therefore they will not fit into conventional underwear. Lisa Marks from the Georgia Institute of Technology has designed a bra that can be customised to suit different body shapes and sizes for comfortable fitting underwear. Body measurements are taken and then an algorithm creates a unique lace pattern that will create a symmetrical look when worn, despite how different the breast sizes might be. However the technology ends there. Marks then hand makes the bra using a 16th century weaving technique. The bra has no wiring and is seamless to provide the user with ultimate comfort and support.
“Since women who have had mastectomies have a higher rate of asymmetry, they have few options for lingerie, and often end up using external prosthetics,” says Marks. “This bra brings back their ability to adorn their body with lace and something that fits them.” (https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/29-april-5-may-2019/a-bespoke-lace-bra-to-fit-different-breast-cancer-patients/)
Currently the bras are still made to order and there are no confirmations as to whether they could be mass produced. But I hope they can be made more accessible, even provided on the NHS... What a fantastic innovation for giving women back some confidence after going through such a horrendous ordeal. The design recently won the overall design award at the Lexus Design Awards 2019 so let's hope it'll be more readily available in the near future. See the full story https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/29-april-5-may-2019/a-bespoke-lace-bra-to-fit-different-breast-cancer-patients/.
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