Free Republic

Scientists have found a way to transform leftover human waste into bricks. Sewer sludge is currently thoroughly treated and dried out, but the remainder of the 'biosolid' remains are unused and sent to landfill. A novel method has now been developed which combines clay with faeces to create a unique form of building material. Scientists created bricks with 25 per cent faeces and the rest traditional clay and found the block still managed to pass stringent strength tests. They are also more porous and better insulators.

Usually, you'd expect two compounds with the same composition, atom-to-atom connectivity and symmetry to be chemically identical too. But scientists investigating metal-organic frameworks have discovered a surprising exception to this rule by identifying two isomers with the same symmetry and bonding but different gas storage properties. A team led by Shengqian Ma at the Argonne National Laboratory, Illinois, US, investigated a rod-like tetracarboxylate molecule (ebdc) which can bind to a metal atom from any one of four binding points, one at each corner of a rectangle. When it was heated with a copper salt at 75 °C, a crystal phase formed...

Under the knife Doctoring broken bones in the future could be easier and simpler – thanks to a metallic glass material that can be used to make dissolvable screws, pins or plates. Bone fractures or breaks are routinely fixed in place with metal implants to encourage healing. These are usually made from corrosion-resistant steel or titanium, but have to be removed in a second operation once the bones have mended. In an effort to make this extra surgery a thing of the past, materials scientists led by Jörg Löffler at ETH Zurich in Switzerland have designed a metallic glass...