Northwest Labs Discover A Spray That Removes Pesky Moon Dust, A Sweet Substitute For Plastic And More

In this monthly rundown from OPB, they feature the most interesting, wondrous and hopeful science coming out of the Pacific Northwest, from Jes Burns, creator of “All Science. No Fiction.” And remember: Science builds on the science that came before. No one study tells the whole story.

Oh, sugar forks!

Single-use plastic is everywhere, and it’s actually pretty difficult to get around using it completely. Despite how bad this stuff is for the environment, we really haven’t found an alternative that’s caught on.

But researchers at Boise State University have developed a new material they think could help solve our single-use woes. The material is made of a sugar called isomalt — the glory of baking shows everywhere — with additives of cellulose (from plants), sawdust or wood flour. The additives boosted the strength of the normally-brittle isomalt.

Moon dust spray

Moon dust is some unpleasant stuff. It’s comprised of silicate, which causes lung disease in miners on Earth, and it’s real sticky because of static cling. The dust has wreaked havoc for astronauts in the past — causing “lunar hay fever” and damage to gear. With NASA targeting the next moon landing for 2025, scientists are looking for ways to get rid of the dust.

Researchers at Washington State University have found a way to remove more than 98% of the dust on coated mini-astronaut dolls tested in a vacuum in the lab.

They used a liquid nitrogen spray (so cold!), which essentially boiled when it hit the warmer surface of the proxy space suits. This action caused the dust to lift off the material surface and float away on the nitrogen “steam.”

In addition to being more effective at dust removal than the brushes and vacuums used by the early moon explorers, the researchers say the liquid nitrogen also does far less damage to the suit material.

Read the study in the journal Acta Astronautica.

The result is a substance that’s harder than plastic, lightweight, and quickly dissolvable in water. The researchers then experimented with a food-grade coating that would keep the material from dissolving when wet. To recycle, just crack the coating.

The bonus is that the material can be dissolved and reformed into new items without loss of strength. And for those errant forks that end up on the ground: the authors say the dissolved material could actually be beneficial to soil.

Read more in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering.

Building better batteries

To get to 100% renewable energy — with energy sources like solar and wind that aren’t making electricity around the clock — we’re going to have to be able to store electricity on the grid to use when nature isn’t making enough. The best batteries available at this point are lithium-ion batteries, but they’re spendy, mining lithium can be fraught and some of the chemicals involved are toxic.

The quest for the next big thing in batteries is ongoing, and researchers at Oregon State University are focusing on zinc. Zinc batteries have the potential to be safer and cheaper for the