The Dow Chemical Co. and Cargill formed Cargill Dow Polymers LLC to develop and market polylactic acid (PLA) polymers. The PLA polymers are derived from renewable agricultural resources, such as corn or sugar beets. They are composed of chains of latic acid, a natural food ingredient, which can be produced by converting starch into sugar, then fermenting it to yield lactic acid. Water is removed to form lactide, which is converted into the PLA resins using a solvent-free polymerization. "Polylatic acid technology has the potential to provide a new product platform to compete with hydrocarbon-based thermoplastics, such as polyethylene, polystyrene, and polypropylene," says Jim Stoppert, president of the LLC. Like polyethylene terephtalate (PET), the polymers resist grease and oil and offer a flavor and odor barrier. They also provide for heat sealability at lower temperatures than polyolefin sealant resins, according to Stoppert. Contact Dow Customer Information Group at (800) .
If you see a hitchhiker along the road in Canada this summer, it may not be human. That’s because a robot is thumbing its way across our neighbor to the north as part of a collaborative research project by several Canadian universities.
Stanford University researchers have found a way to realize what’s been called the “Holy Grail” of battery-design research -- designing a pure lithium anode for lithium-based batteries. The design has great potential to provide unprecedented efficiency and performance in lithium-based batteries that could substantially drive down the cost of electric vehicles and solve the charging problems associated with smartphones.
Robots in films during the 2000s hit the big time; no longer are they the sidekicks of nerdy character actors. Robots we see on the big screen in recent years include Nicole Kidman, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Eddie Murphy. Top star of the era, Will Smith, takes a spin as a robot investigator in I, Robot. Robots (or androids or cyborgs) are fully mainstream in the 2000s.
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