Plastic limbs
Not sure if this should be in Health, or Science?
I have read that Engineers at De Montfort Uni in Leicester, have discovered they can grind down plastic bottles into a powder that looks much like sugar. They can then turn this powder into strings of polyester like there is in a lot of our clothing.
Instead of making clothes though, their team realised that these fibres can be moulded into the shape of leg and arm sockets.
What a way of making use of old plastic bottles!
It says making a prosthetic limb usually costs up to £5,000, but by using old bottles it could cost just £10!
Patients are so far saying they are comfortable to wear too.
They say this could help millions of people who can't afford prosthetics - and reduce plastic pollution at the same time.
Seems a rather splendid idea to me, if it really works.