By J.P. LAWRENCE | STARS AND STRIPES Published: February 3, 2021 Kombucha tea has inspired new Army-funded technology that may help troops carry out potentially life-saving tasks, such as detecting chemicals and other pollutants in the environment or purifying water in the field. Engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Imperial College London used SCOBY which stands for Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria and Yeast and is a byproduct of the fermentation process used to make the fizzy, often tart beverage to produce cellulose that can perform numerous functions. By modifying the yeast in the SCOBY, the researchers found they could create materials that glow in the dark, purify water or change color when sensing dangerous substances.
6 RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. Kombucha tea, a trendy fermented beverage, inspired researchers to develop a new way to generate tough, functional materials using a mixture of bacteria and yeast similar to the kombucha mother used to ferment tea.
With Army funding, using this mixture, also called a SCOBY, or symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast, engineers at MIT and Imperial College London produced cellulose embedded with enzymes that can perform a variety of functions, such as sensing environmental pollutants and self-healing materials.
The team also showed that they could incorporate yeast directly into the cellulose, creating living materials that could be used to purify water for Soldiers in the field or make smart packaging materials that can detect damage.
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IMAGE: With Army funding, researchers developed a new way to generate tough, functional materials using a mixture of bacteria and yeast similar to the kombucha mother used to ferment tea. view more
Credit: Tzu-Chieh (Zijay) Tang, MIT
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. Kombucha tea, a trendy fermented beverage, inspired researchers to develop a new way to generate tough, functional materials using a mixture of bacteria and yeast similar to the kombucha mother used to ferment tea.
With Army funding, using this mixture, also called a SCOBY, or symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast, engineers at MIT and Imperial College London produced cellulose embedded with enzymes that can perform a variety of functions, such as sensing environmental pollutants and self-healing materials.
This is no ordinary space shammy.
Dec 18th, 2020
Lisa B Bistreich-Wolfe
Researchers at the Army s Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology develop an acoustic fabric being tested on the International Space Station could be used to develop space dust telescopes and allow astronauts to feel through their pressurized suits.
pace BD/JAXA, Composite by Juliana Cherston, MIT
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. - An Army-funded smart fiber being tested on the International Space Station could be used to develop space dust telescopes and allow astronauts to feel through their pressurized suits.
Researchers at the Army s Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology developed an acoustic fabric so sensitive to vibrations that it can detect impacts from microscopic high velocity space particles. A more earthly application of these fabrics could be for blast detection and in the future act as sensitive microphones