The Eco Scoop
are flip flops dangerous?You slip them on and enjoy their practical and beautiful simplicity when you’re running around town or heading to the beach. Flip-flops are a wardrobe staple and let’s be honest: they go with so many clothing choices in the summer. But are they good for your health? Here are some things you need to know about flip-flops and how to wear them safely.
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the north face made a parka from synthetic spider silk
Five times stronger than steel, three times tougher than nylon or Kevlar, yet a fraction of the width of human hair, spider silk is one of the planet’s most valuable, if tricky to mass-produce, textiles. Spiber, a biomaterials firm from Japan, has spent the better part of a decade trying to crack its genetic code. Comparing its quest with President John F. Kennedy’s “moonshot,” Spiber finally discovered a way to reprogram bacteria to produce fibroin, the structural protein in spider silk. It named the resulting material—Qmonos—after kumonosu, or “spider web” in Japanese. Now ready for its “giant leap,” Spiber has partnered with The North Face to unveil the “Moon Parka,” a protective garment designed to protect its wearer from Antarctica’s inhospitable enivrons.
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MIT IS TURNING LIVING BACTERIA INTO SELF-VENTILATING ACTIVEWEAR
MIT Media Lab’s Tangible Media Group has developed a “living” second skin, derived from a species of ancient bacteria, that responds to sweat and body heat. Discovered a millennia ago by samurai, and typically used in Japanese cooking, Bacillus subtilis natto reacts to moisture in the air, expanding and contracting much like pinecones do. The greater the amount of humidity they’re exposed to, the larger natto cells become. Piqued by the behavior, MIT’s Lining Yao and Hiroshi Ishii decided to investigate further, eventually turning the cells into a series of biofilms that curled or folded according to their alignment.
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