Australian technology donated to a Southeast Asian nation aims to recycle 20,000 tonnes of plastic each year. Timor-Leste is a target for ocean plastics, and much washes up on their pristine beaches. The country will get a new $60 million recycling plant, with work due to start next year. The plant will help process all their plastic waste and the government is aiming for it to become the world's first plastic neutral nation. Plastic neutral means no used plastics will enter the environment as waste, and will instead be recycled into new products. www.sbs.com.au/news/timor-leste-could-become-the-first-plastic-neutral-nation-thanks-to-australian-technology
Pain ROADMAP is a mobile platform made up of an app for patients with chronic pain and a portal for clinicians. Using the app, you can keep a log of each activity you do throughout the day, your pain levels as you do those activities, what pain medication you take and when. You also wear a device around your waist, which keeps track of when you are moving and resting. Armed with this detailed information, clinicians can help you work out how to better pace your activities through the day to reduce the frequency of intense periods of pain. By using ROADMAP five out of seven people who relied on take-as-needed pain medication were able to stop taking it according to a study. Opioid medication by those in the study also decreased by 20 per cent on average.
https://blog.csiro.au/managing-chronic-pain-in-more-mobile-ways/
SERA is the world's first adjustable weighted blanket, fully washable and can be configured to weigh from 7 to 28 pounds. My vision was to create an adjustable totally customizable weighted blanket for people who suffer from sleep and anxiety disorders. Our blankets have also been used by children with ADD, PTSD, Aspergers and Autism as well as seniors with Parkinsons, Dementia, and Alzheimer's. The blanket's weight is sewn into strips which then get pulled into the channels of the cover with a custom Sera tool. The weighted strips come in different weight increments. https://bit.ly/SeraOnKickstarter
Malaysian company RiceStraws offers an affordable alternative to plastic straws, 100% biodegradable, and of natural ingredients that are edible. Straws are made of rice as the main material, and tapioca as a coagulant. They don?t dissolve in drinks, but soften up after 2-3 hours in hot drinks and 4-10 hours in cold drinks. They are certified according to food industry standards HACCP and ISO 22000, and are also Halal-certified. While in developed countries using plastic straws has been widely reduced, are consumers in developing countries ready to pay more for this change?
Image Credit: NLYTech Biotech
More info: https://www.ricestraws.net/
