Plants can take-up microplastics – should we be happy about it? [new study]

“Waiter, there’s plastic in my lettuce” isn’t a phrase you’d expect to hear very often. Nevertheless, several studies have now shown that plants can, and do, take-up microplastics [MPs] from the soil and incorporate them into stems, roots and leaves. Should we be worried – or happy? The latter is a possibility that should be […]

Inventiveness: “The portable bidet compatible with your plastic bottle”

“The portable bidet compatible with your plastic bottle”—that’s what the promoters say in promoting their invention called CuloClean. It’s a propulsive bottle cap. The promotional video and crowdfunding campaign, like the device itself, comes with minimal information. You may find it tricky to flush out information about the people behind CuloClean. Their press kit says only this:  […]

Further adventures with plastic pink flamingos: lemurs

Io9 published a selection of photos of plastic pink flamingos used as mental stimulants for lemurs in the San Francisco Zoo: Lawn Ornaments Help Lemurs Stay Happy and Healthy The San Francisco Zoo recently introduced its lemurs to some pink plastic flamingos. The results were predictably adorable, but the flamingos weren’t just decoration. They’re an […]

Flamingo-spurred matched Featherstones, for 35 years

This photo shows Don and Nancy Featherstone, wearing matching outfits, at the 2012 Ig Nobel Prize ceremony. (Mike Benveniste took the photo.) The Featherstones have come to nearly every Ig Nobel ceremony since Donald was awarded the 1996 Ig Nobel Prize for art, for creating the plastic pink flamingo. For 35 years, the Featherstones have […]

Faculty action figures

Very few universities have had realistic ‘action figures’ made of their faculties and staff. One exception is the University of the Ozarks in Arkansas, where Dr. Jesse Weiss (Associate Professor of Sociology and Environmental Studies) has produced a collection of them. The professor hatched the idea via his hobby of customizing action figure models from […]