Sustainable Consumption Stories
From sundae to solvents: Chemists find a way to recycle mountains of industrial ice cream waste
The same proteins that keep a frozen pint smooth also make its fat hard to recover. A research team found an inexpensive way around the problem.
Clothes that cool you, warm you—and make power as you move
In a bid to cool people, not rooms, engineers made a printable fabric that turns body motion into electrical signals that switch on cooling and heating when you need it.
How earlier toilet training could help stem the tide of plastic waste
Kids leave diapers behind nearly a year later than they did in the 1950s. With 300,000 disposable diapers tossed every minute, a new study maps three ways out.
A 100-year-old freezer rule has a hidden climate cost
Frozen food worldwide is still kept at −18°C (0°F). Raising that by just three degrees could avoid 17 million tons of emissions a year, and an 18-month study found most foods stay safe and tasty.
Scientists made an ultra-black wool. And it turns saltwater into drinking water
The natural biodegradable material, which costs less than $1 for a piece the size of a sheet of paper, could provide an purification for vulnerable communities.
Why less steel and concrete isn’t the same as more sustainable
A provocative new study argues that a building’s real environmental cost is measured by how well it survives disaster, not by how little it weighs.
Scientists develop a plastic that can be turned into fertilizer
Researchers say a modified plant-derived polymer offers a possible alternative to conventional plastics—one designed to end its life as crop fertilizer, not landfill waste.
Building codes are holding back low-carbon concrete. A new study shows why.
Building standards treat all concrete the same, hindering the use of greener concrete, but climate conditions play a much bigger role in determining a structure’s durability
Mushroom leather may finally be ready for mass production
Plastic-free, ethical leather alternatives that perform like the real thing are hard to make. Researchers may have cracked the code to produce such materials on large scale.
To sort or not to sort your recyclables—which is the better climate bet?
Europe bet on sorting discipline, America bet on convenience, and the climate math is still being settled.
