Snippets Innovations for December 2019

Welcome to our first Innovations newsletter. Hopefully you will enjoy reading about these innovations as much as we did. There were so many of recent interest to us we decided to put them all together for some light holiday reading.

Geo40 is looking at the next step in the technical and commercial production of battery-grade lithium in the central North Island. The company has proven it can extract lithium, a key element in batteries for electric vehicles. It is now planning to scale up and look to take lithium extraction to a commercial level. Read more.....

A new class of fungi-based steaks, cultivated from a fast-growing micro-organism, may be a paradigm-shifting meat alternative. While most alt-meat products, from veggie patties to fake-chicken nuggets, approximate the finely minced texture of ground meat, Meati strives to emulate whole animal muscle. The result is geared more toward the steakhouse than the drive-thru. Read more.....

Swedish scientists say they have found a way to recycle plastic perfectly: their new process can turn any waste plastic back into new plastic of identical quality – and recover all of it. It would work for all plastic waste, including detritus swept up by the tide, or unearthed from landfill. Read more.....

A team of scientists from around Europe has tested a wind turbine that transmits energy using a superconductor. A superconductor refers to a material that passes electricity with no resistance, meaning the same current could circulate essentially forever with no degradation. A wind turbine that works as well as a traditional one with higher power density and a much smaller form factor is an exciting step toward reducing the cost of wind turbines. Read more.....

Heliogen, a clean energy company says it has discovered a way to use artificial intelligence and a field of mirrors to reflect so much sunlight that it generates extreme heat above 1,000 degrees Celsius. Read more....