Spray-On, Rinse-Off Food 'Wrapper' Can Cut Plastic Packaging

Trouble viewing? View in your browser. View all Scientific American publications.

    

June 28, 2022

Dear Reader, Plastic packaging can extend a food's shelf life—but it also contributes to the ongoing problem of plastic pollution. To replace it, researchers have developed a spray-on food coating that still deters rot but can be easily rinsed off and washed down the drain.

Sophie Bushwick, Associate Editor, Technology

Food Spray-On, Rinse-Off Food 'Wrapper' Can Cut Plastic Packaging The coating deters microorganisms to fight both food waste and foodborne illness By Sam Jones

Privacy Roe v. Wade Was Overturned: Here's How Your Phone Could Be Used to Spy on You From figuring out how often you go to the bathroom to potentially being used to prosecute you, your trusty smartphone might not be so trusty in a post-Roe world. By Sophie Bushwick,Tulika Bose,Michael Tabb

Renewable Energy We Need to Make 'Electrifying Everything' Easier Incentives and remodeling need to be more straightforward and equitable if we expect people to convert their homes away from fossil fuels By The Editors

Politics Gunshot Survivors and Trauma Surgeons Welcome the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act After a chaotic week in which gun safety measures were struck down by the Supreme Court and enacted by Biden, the time to act is now By Joseph V. Sakran

Weather How Connected Cars Can Map Urban Heat Islands Crowdsourced vehicle data trace the contours of dangerous city temperatures By Rachel Berkowitz

Robotics Tiny, Tumbling Origami Robots Could Help with Targeted Drug Delivery The design's origami pattern creates the flexibility needed to deliver compounds to specific areas of the body By Fionna M. D. Samuels

Politics Research on Gun Violence Has Been Thwarted: It's Now More Urgent Than Ever We need to make firearms safer, and to do that, we need more robust research funding By Asheley Van Ness,Evan Mintz

Planetary Science New Satellite Is a 'Swiss Army Knife' in Space The hyperspectral probe can pick out extreme detail of materials on Earth's surface By Megan I. Gannon

Mental Health Why Social Media Makes People Unhappy--And Simple Ways to Fix It Research suggests platform designs make us lose track of time spent on them and can heighten conflicts, and then we feel upset with ourselves By Daisy Yuhas

FROM THE STORE The Age of Humans Humans have accomplished a great deal in our relatively short history - and have left our mark on Earth in the process. In this eBook, we examine the story of us: how we got here, the world we've built and how we'll need to continue to adapt if we are to manage our impact on the planet and build a better future. *Editor's Note: This Collector's Edition was published as The Age of Humans. The eBook adaptation contains all of the articles, but some of the artwork has been removed to optimize viewing on tablet devices.

QUOTE OF THE DAY "The difference between now and the last time that abortion was illegal in the United States is that we live in an era of unprecedented digital surveillance." Eva Galperin, Twitter

FROM THE ARCHIVE 50, 100 & 150 Years Ago: July 2022 Count women as workers; cement from sewage By Mark Fischetti | July 2022

LATEST ISSUES

Questions?   Comments?

Download the Scientific American App

To view this email as a web page, go here. You received this email because you opted-in to receive email from Scientific American. To ensure delivery please add news@email.scientificamerican.com to your address book. Unsubscribe     Manage Email Preferences     Privacy Policy     Contact Us