MultiBriefs - Your source for industry specific News Briefs

Dental students in Costa Rica design metal saliva ejector to reduce waste

Tammy Hinojos Oral & Dental Healthcare

A group of dental students has engineered a solution to the wastefulness of one-time use plastic saliva ejectors that most U.S. dentists use daily. Dentists must dispose of plastic saliva ejectors after each patient in accordance with infection control protocols. But thanks to the ingenuity of these conservation-minded dental students, this could become a thing of the past. The four students at the University of Costa Rica have developed a metallic saliva ejector that can be cleaned in the autoclave and reused again and again.

A climate of change: What should your organization do?

Linda Popky Business Management, Services & Risk Management

The data show the earth is getting hotter — hotter now than it’s been since records were first kept in 1880. The rise in temperature affects animal and marine life and causes potentially devastating dangers for people. What should we do about it? How involved should businesses and associations be on this issue? Will support one way or the other help or hurt your business? Here are a few points to consider.

EPA approves bee-killing pesticide use as populations of the insect crater

Scott E. Rupp Food & Beverage

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in June approved the use of a bee-killing pesticide and, more recently, the White House said it would stop collecting data on declining honey bee populations. Those who follow such developments say this move could make tracking the effects of the chemicals on bees impossible. The Department of Agriculture's Honey Bee Colonies report, compiled annually since 2015, had been designed to help scientists and farmers assess the decline of honey bees, which are responsible for pollinating one in every three bites of food taken by humans.

Why meatless madness won’t be going away any time soon

Dave G. Houser Food & Beverage

There’s no doubt about it — we Americans love our meat. We eat more of it per-person than any country in the world except Luxembourg. Health experts and environmentalists tell us this is not a good thing. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared that meat — red and white — contributes directly to heart disease, stroke, diabetes and various types of cancer. The heavy environmental impacts of conventional meat production are a major concern as well. Under such circumstances, it should come as no surprise that vegetable-based burgers that look like meat and taste like meat are winning over millions of skeptical consumers, taking Wall Street by storm and prompting Big Ag to jump into a potentially lucrative business that began on the vegan fringe.

A guide for facilities decision-makers on going solar

Scott E. Rupp Facilities & Grounds

Implementing a solar energy project has many legs and can move in many directions. However, guidance, development of the project, the site, and goals need to be set well before actual work can be done. Planning can help a facility carry out the solar implementation project, but facility managers should also look for innovative ways to aggregate procurements to benefit from economies of scale and to reduce transaction costs. Federal agencies, for example, are moving toward solar power capabilities, as are private organizations. But no matter the agency or sector, interest is there for generating solar plans.

Air quality at national parks may be as bad as the US’ largest cities

Scott E. Rupp Waste Management & Environmental

Millions of tourists will soon begin their treks across this great land during their annual summer vacations. Many of these people will find their way into America's national parks. They will come for the physical beauty, the nature, the outdoors, and the fresh air. Or so they think. As it turns out, we’re not breathing in the such clean air in the great outdoors of the National Park System. According to a new report, even our most well-known parks are covered with dangerous levels of pollution; roughly 96% of national parks are struggling with significant air quality issues.

Why the electric bike deserves our attention more than the electric car

Lucy Wallwork Transportation Technology & Automotive

While the electric car craze has filled pages of newspapers and magazines, our attention has been distracted from where the real momentum should be building — electric bikes. China, where e-bike sales have been outstripping car sales, has its eye on the ball. The regulatory framework has some catching up to do, but faced with mass urbanization and an environmental crisis, it is e-bikes that really have the potential to reshape our cities.

Study: More mosquito-borne infections associated with early season hurricanes

Lynn Hetzler Medical & Allied Healthcare

Hurricanes and other heavy rainfall events (HREs) can affect the transmission of vector-borne infectious diseases in the southern coastal United States and other temperate areas of the world. Stagnant water left in the aftermath of a heavy rainfall event provides rich breeding grounds for mosquitoes, which increases the likelihood of human infection. The timing of a hurricane has a significant influence on a storm’s effect on the spread of these infections, such as West Nile virus, Zika, chikungunya and dengue, according to the result of new study published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

Proposed California plastics law could be a game-changer for fighting pollution

Seth Sandronsky Waste Management & Environmental

California is the most populous state in the U.S. and the world’s fifth biggest economy. If enacted, the proposed California Circular Economy and Plastic Pollution Reduction Act could be a game-changer in reducing plastic production and promoting a clean recycling economy. "The legislation will establish a comprehensive framework to address the pollution and waste crisis, and sets a statewide goal that manufacturers reduce the waste generated by single-use packaging and products by 75% after 2030," according to a statement from state Sen. Ben Allen, D-Santa Monica.

Manufacturing slowdown sparks new political strategies

Michelle R. Matisons Manufacturing

The White House's official optimistic manufacturing narrative has been seriously disjointed from real-world production and employment issues in the very important and inherently political manufacturing sector. President Trump hung his hat on increased manufacturing jobs to get elected, but a persistent trade deficit haunts his administration — increasing by $100 billion under his watch. Now that this harsh reality can’t be ignored, we see some politicians initiating new strategies to address the slowdown.

Industries