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Technologies 1

• Bioplastics
  Humans have produced roughly 8,300 million metric tons of plastic since the 1950s, the vast majority of which has been thrown out as waste. Only about 9% of that plastic waste has been recycled and 12% has been incinerated, leaving 79% of it to accumulate on our land and oceans, harming the environment, the food...

News 4

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• Press Release
  
  Patching a gap in wound care
  November 29, 2016
• Video/​Animation
  
  Environmental Impact: Redefining Our Understanding
  March 20, 2015
• Press Release
  
  Manufacturing a solution to planet-clogging plastics
  March 3, 2014

Multimedia 3

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  Video/Animation
  Environmental Impact: Chitin-Inhibiting Pesticides Called into Question
  Chitin, a molecule that serves a purpose in the developmental biology of insects, fungi and shrimp, has long been a target of growth-inhibiting pesticides due to the belief that it did not exist in vertebrates. For decades, chitin-inhibiting pesticides have stunted the growth of insects and fungi to protect valuable crops. Now, research from the...

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  Audio/Podcast
  Shrimp Shells Could Make the Green Plastic of the Future
  Unlike other forms of bioplastic, like those made from potatoes or corn, chitin plastic does not simply replace the carbon source for the polymer, it actually replaces the carbon-based plastic polymer, making it a totally biodegradable and sustainable material. Researchers at Harvard’s Wyss Institute used chitin from discarded shrimp shells from a shrimp processing plant...

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  Video/Animation
  Chitosan Bioplastic
  In this video, the team grew a California Blackeye pea plant in soil enriched with its chitosan bioplastic over a three-week period – demonstrating the material’s potential to encourage plant growth once it is returned to the environment. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University