From Pong to path tracing: The leaps that built modern game graphics

Graphics in games don’t improve in a steady, gentle slope. They jump. Someone ships a look that feels like it arrived from ...
Digital Production

How I Spent Five Years Making a Solo 3D Film

Five years, one artist, one robot: how Maxim Gehricke made SEN, a 3D animated short film created solo from concept to final render.
Sacramento Bee

California’s plastic bag phaseout nears, but leftover bags remain unregulated

At the Target store on Riverside Boulevard on Friday, stacks of plastic bags sat prominently at checkout counters — the only visible option available for shoppers at both self-checkout kiosks and ...
The Washington Post

These kitchen items may be contaminating your food with chemicals

See the thousands of plastic chemicals in what we eat. Warning: This graphic requires JavaScript. Please enable JavaScript for the best experience. When Americans eat ...
Frontiers

Plastic pollution is worsened by warming climate and must be stemmed, researchers warn

Increased toxicity from plastic pollution in a warmer climate is highly likely to be affecting whole ecosystems, with potentially disproportionate impacts on apex predators such as orcas. A new review ...
New Atlas

Bamboo-derived biodegradable plastic is as durable as the real thing

Bamboo plastic sounds like a compelling eco-friendly material for a variety of applications, but its questionable durability and recyclability leave a lot to be desired. Researchers at Northeast ...
The Washington Post

What happens if you drink from a plastic water bottle left in a hot car

Is it true that you should not drink from plastic water bottles left in a hot car? Microplastics — plastic particles smaller than five millimeters — are in our food, water, clothing, personal care ...
Wall Street Journal

Plastic Waste Is Piling Up, but Alternative Materials Struggle to Get Off the Ground

The world’s biggest consumer goods companies are trying out alternatives to plastic as pollution worries mount, but finding packaging that is truly sustainable without being cumbersome is proving to ...
Interesting Engineering

The science behind plastic recycling and why it needs a rethink

Waste isn’t new, and neither is humanity’s role in creating it. Since the dawn of industrialization, our ability to pollute has scaled alongside our innovations. In 1862, British inventor and ...
Interesting Engineering

This ‘living plastic’ breaks down all by itself, thanks to bacteria

A biodegradable "living plastic" engineered by combining thermoplastic polyurethane pellets (left) and Bacillus subtilis spores (right)David Baillot/UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering According ...
USA Today

Pack a bag or pay up: Some plastic bag bans appear to be working

Plastic bag bans and fees have spread across the United States, and new research show they're doing a good job at cutting down on litter, although some rules work better than others. In places where ...