The World’s First Naturally Biodegradable Plastic Alternative

Good News Notes: “Toraphene aims to tackle the climate crisis by making plastic packaging and single-use plastics obsolete. The company has developed the world’s first commercially viable, truly biodegradable, and compostable alternative to conventional plastic packaging, which breaks down naturally, without human involvement – even in the ocean. Toraphene consists of naturally occurring compostable biopolymers…

Power technicians discover secret medieval tunnel under footpath in Wales

Good News Notes: “A secret medieval tunnel has been discovered near the site of a soaring 12th-century Abbey in Wales. Electrical workers from Western Power Distribution (WPD) in Wales accidentally discovered the tunnels while digging a hole for a new powerline pole in a customer’s backyard in Monmouthshire, near the English border.  The human-made tunnel…

Canoo reveals a bubbly electric pickup truck

Good News Notes: “No, that’s not a Duplo toy — what you see above (and in the renders below) is the design for a pickup truck from California electric vehicle startup Canoo. Revealed in a leak on Reddit on Wednesday, and then subsequently confirmed to Reuters before officially being revealed, the head-turning EV truck is not due out until 2023. By that…

New catalyst converts methane into methanol at room temperature

Good News Notes: “Methanol has wide-ranging potential as a cleaner fuel for powering advanced automobiles or producing plastic materials or other chemicals, and recently we’re seeing how the production side of things could prove a boon for the environment, too. Scientists at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) have now found a catalyst that allows the methane in natural…