Researchers make bioplastics from meat and bone meal

A research team has developed a new process that utilises meat and bone meal (MBM) as raw materials to produce partly biodegradable plastic. The research was presented at the American Chemical Society’s 241st National Meeting and Exposition by Fehime Vatansever and her associates of the Clemson University, South Carolina.

The US Food and Drug Administration implemented a ban on using MBM as cattle feed in 1997 to reduce the spread of the human form of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). This ban made MBM as a waste material to be disposed in landfills. Instead of disposing MBM as waste material, the research team decided to use it to produce bioplastics that are free from petroleum. Read more ...

This blog is written by Martin Little The Global Miller, published and supported by the GFMT Magazine from Perendale Publishers.

Presence of Giant Whitefly insect pest discovered in Indonesia

Scientists with a Virginia Tech-led program have discovered the presence of the giant whitefly (Aleurodicus dugesii) in western Java, the first known infestation of this pest in Asia. The scientists fear an infestation could cause widespread destruction of crops in southeastern and South Asia.

Muni Muniappan, entomologist and director of a multimillion dollar U.S. Agency for International Development-funded program at Virginia Tech, noticed the insect on a poinsettia plant along a roadside in Cipanas, Indonesia. Taxonomists soon confirmed whitefly's presence.

Muniappan was in Indonesia with partner scientists from Clemson University and Bogor Agricultural University in Bogor, Indonesia, inspecting program progress when he noticed telltale signs of the whitefly: a sooty black mold that covers the surface of infected leaves, making photosynthesis impossible. Read more ...

This blog is written by Martin Little The Global Miller, published and supported by the GFMT Magazine from Perendale Publishers.