WebProNews

Tag: Plastic

  • BPA Miscarriage: Possible Link Discovered By Study

    LiveScience via Yahoo News reported yesterday that the common plastic chemical bisphenol A (BPA) has been linked to miscarriage risks in pregnant women.

    The study is to be presented at the meeting of International Federation of Fertility Societies and the American Society for Reproductive Medicine in Boston. In order to determine a link, scientists collected blood samples from 114 different women between 4 and 5 weeks of pregnancy.

    After dividing their sample population into groups, researchers concluded that women who had the highest BPA levels were 80 percent more likely to have a first-trimester miscarriage than the group with the lowest BPA levels. However, the study failed to conclusively prove that BPA was the cause of miscarriages because other variables may have been at work.

    Although BPA could not be proven to be a miscarriage cause, the scientists also analyzed miscarried fetal chromosomes, discovering that BPA exposure increased the risk of both genetically normal and abnormal miscarriages. Dr. Kenneth Spaeth, medical director of the Occupational and Environmental Medicine Center at the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System of New York, said that “Given how widespread its use is…I think we have to take these kind of studies very seriously, and make sure we’re doing everything we can to better characterize the risk.”

    Dr. Ruth Lathi, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Stanford University’s Medical Center and one of the study’s authors, said “I don’t want to alarm prospective parents… Lots of women with detectable [BPA] levels have healthy babies [and] there is no harm in trying to reduce [BPA] exposures.”

    BPA slowly leeches into the food and beverages contained in plastic and cans. Dr. Lathi has several recommendations for those who would seek to lower their risk:

    • Avoid cooking in plastic, because BPA can leech into the food as a result of high temperatures.
    • Avoid canned food, as BPA may lurk in the lining.
    • Don’t drink water from that bottle you left in your car in the hot sun. The sun has caused the BPA in your water bottle to leech into the water!
    • Try to avoid plastics with recycling code numbers 3, 6, and 7 as these are most likely to contain BPA.

    [Image via an AP YouTube report]

  • FilaMaker Will Turn Your Old Plastic Into 3D Printer Filament

    Unused plastic is everywhere. It just sits around waiting for somebody to toss it, or use it in some weird art project. Well, now you can finally do something with all that plastic thanks to a new machine that debuted over the weekend.

    3ders reports that Marek Senický showed off his new FilaMaker machine at Maker Faire Rome this past weekend. The device allows 3D printer enthusiasts to crush and melt their old plastic into usable filament.

    For the 3D printing enthusiast, the FilaMaker will be able to create filament of any size as long as you have the appropriate extruder head. It’s also able to currently produce filament at one meter per minute, but Senický hopes to have it at two meters per minute at launch.

    Check it out in action below:

    It should be noted that FilaMaker is not the first product like this on the market. Earlier this year, Filabot offered a similar machine that would melt down plastic and create new plastic filament for use in 3D printers. What sets the two apart is that FilaMaker has a built-in shredder that can reduce large plastic items into the small bits necessary for proper melting.

    [Image: thymark/YouTube]

  • Plastics in Smartphones to Surge in Coming Years

    Apple’s high-end iPhones are known for their sleek metal casings. The company spent years perfecting the machining of the iPhone 4 and then the iPhone 5 cases. Other manufacturers have done the same with their high-end smartphones, most notably HTC with its One smartphone. Apple’s largest competitor, Samsung, has taken a different route, crafting its Galaxy smartphone lineup out of a tough plastic.

    This year, Apple finally turned to plastic to keep costs down. The new iPhone 5C breaks away from Apple tradition and is cased in a polycarbonate plastic. The company unapologetic about this decision.

    The iPhone 5C, in fact, could be a preview of things to come for the smartphone industry. Industry analyst firm IHS today estimates that the market for molded plastic components for phones will rise rapidly in the coming years. The market is already predicted to hit $3.5 billion this year, up slightly from last year’s $3.3 billion. In the coming years, though, the plastics market for phones is expected by IHS to hit $4.5 billion by 2017, a full 27% increase over four years. The total weight of plastic resin used in phones in 2017 is expected to be 336,000 metric tons.

    “Plastic components are becoming increasingly important in mobile handsets, and especially in smartphones,” said Kristin Squires, a chemicals industry consultant at IHS. “Amid rising competition in the market, smartphone original equipment manufacturers (OEM) are seeking ways to drive down costs for raw materials, manufacturing and assembly. Plastic offers multitude ways to cut these expenses.”

  • iPhone 5C: Here’s Apple’s Jony Ive And Craig Federighi Explaining Why It’s So Great (And So Plastic)

    How many times have you heard the words “unapologetically plastic” in the past 24 hours? Well, get ready to hear it one more time.

    Apple has released a five-minute video looking at the new, more inexpensive iPhone model, which comes in a variety of colors (hence the “For the colorful” tagline).

    Now, watch the parody version.

    The device appears to be aimed at markets in the developing world, but while it’s certainly less expensive than other models, some don’t think it’s cheap enough, and based on Apple’s stock, investors appear to agree.

    More Apple coverage here.

    Image: Apple (YouTube)