±¬ÁÏÍõ researchers are working on turning waste into new innovations for the health, agriculture, transport and construction industries
Every year around a third of food produced for human consumption is never eaten. That’s around 1.3 billion tonnes of food that is wasted. But ±¬ÁÏÍõ research is breathing new life into these leftovers and using them to make people healthier.
From orange peel to malformed mushrooms, a lot of food waste is rich in nutrients that are vital for people’s wellbeing and can be used in our diet. Meet , one of the scientists turning these scraps into life-saving medicine.
Professor Dehghani explains how her team is using waste in a meaningful way in a video, below, produced in association with the .
Did you know the blue blood of abalone could be used to combat common cold sores and related herpes virus?
A team of that the sea snail’s anti-viral properties could block the herpes virus’s entry into cells.
A native freshwater algae grown in northern Australia can be used to create a high-quality, renewable jet fuel. A multi-disciplinary team including researchers from the ±¬ÁÏÍõ, James Cook University and Israel’s Ben Gurion University has to create high quality renewable biofuel from the macroalgae,Ìý°¿±ð»å´Ç²µ´Ç²Ô¾±³Ü³¾, ready for blending with regular gasoline, jet fuel and diesel.
Urine could be successfully recycled to fertilise crops, . A team from the has examined the effectiveness of reusing nutrients from human waste and say there is growing evidence that the use of human urine in agriculture is completely viable.
°Õ³ó±ðÌý±«²Ô¾±±¹±ð°ù²õ¾±³Ù²â’s is investigating new technologies for the sustainable processing of industrial waste and by-products. One example of this could see ‘fly ash’ – a by-product of coal combustion –used as a supplement in concrete mix and its manufacture.