Turkey-Inspired Supraballs
It’s that time of year when the turkey takes center stage, er, table. Although many claim Ben Franklin lobbied for the turkey to become the United States’ national symbol, Franklin was taken out of context. Franklin neither publicly championed the turkey nor opposed the bald eagle, and he characterized the turkey as “a little vain […]
Cranberry Polymers
Some of us dread Thanksgiving – the prospect of awkward political discussions, family dysfunction, and, last but not least, the debate over home-made vs. canned cranberry sauce. This annual cranberry conflict seems like a subject fit for a Seussian Butter Battle sequel. Many households solve the problem by offering both a thick, homemade sauce and […]
Crosslinked Polymers Guest Star on The CW’s Flash
Elongated Man: Silly Putty Vs. Rubber Band Warning: This blog post contains spoilers from Season 4, Episode 4 of DC Comics/The CW’s The Flash. “Elongated Journey Into Night” introduces Ralph Dibny, a former cop turned private investigator, recently endowed with superhuman stretching abilities by a dark matter bus accident. Dibny doesn’t know how to control […]
Da Vinci and Plastic
Following our previous blog on the potential first report of a plastic in Capri around 30 A.D., the recent publication of Walter Issacson’s biography of Leonardo Da Vinci prompted us to query whether this prolific inventor and student of materials dabbled in plastic technology. We, of course, were not the first to think of this, […]