You gotta love those scientists — curiosity that never says die. Gotta a CO2 problem? Got too much garbage? Let’s see what we can do….

“Professor Wool and his graduate students designed a composite made from soybeans and the down of chicken feathers — two agricultural products in abundance in Delaware — as an exhibition for the state fair. After seeing the composite, a Tyson Foods engineer approached Professor Wool, offered him two billion pounds of chicken feathers, and an unlikely partnership was born. Despite the madcap premise, Professor Wool used the material to design a circuit board he said is a lighter, stronger, cheaper product with high-speed electronic properties. In short, the feathers allow extra air flow and do not expand like plastic when heated, so the hotter temperatures that come with higher speeds are less problematic.

Garbage into Goods