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Real Talk
Illustration: Yann Bastard
Published April 22, 2021
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A couple of days before I started reporting this story, I ordered a cat scratcher from Amazon. When it arrived, I immediately felt guilty. The scratcher was made entirely of cardboard. It came inside its own cardboard mailing box. And
that box had been stuck inside another, much larger cardboard box and surrounded by bubble wrap. All of that, just to deliver intact something whose sole purpose is to be destroyed. I had to wonder: Did the way I acquired it help destroy the planet, too?
TNO connects with Johns Hopkins for collaborative R&D – Bits&Chips bits-chips.nl - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from bits-chips.nl Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The ‘CoronaEspresso’ is a COVID-19 home test made from a ‘cheap’ and ‘sustainable’ coffee capsule.
At Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands, an ordinary, aluminium, Nespresso-type coffee capsule has been transformed into a home test device for COVID-19.
The test is the brainchild of Dr Vittorio Saggiomo, Assistant Professor of the BioNanoTechnology group (BioNT), and has been created in collaboration with the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO).
A decentralised testing alternative
The CoronaEspresso responds to growing demand for decentralised COVID-19 testing methods.
While initial global efforts centred around centralised, fasting-acting test facilities, Dr Saggiomo suggested logistical bottlenecks soon altered such strategies.
Johns Hopkins APL, TNO Sign Memorandum of Understanding on Collaborative Research and Technology Development
Robert “Buz” Chmielewski is using two modular prosthetic limbs developed by Johns Hopkins APL to feed himself dessert. Smart software puts his utensils in roughly the right spot, and then Buz uses his brain signals to cut the food with knife and fork. Once he is done cutting, the software then brings the food near his mouth, where he again uses brain signals to bring the food the last several inches to his mouth so he can eat it. Such human-machine interface systems are one of several disciplines that will be fostered through the recently signed memorandum of understanding between APL and TNO.
CoronaEspresso: COVID-19 home test developed from coffee capsule beveragedaily.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from beveragedaily.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.