Inhabitat's Week in Green: fluorescent bulb moon, fuel-efficient supersonic jet and a toxin-eating oyster park

Man-made technology is great, but Mother Nature is the greatest inventor of them all -- and scientists are discovering new ways to take advantage of the tools found in nature. Take, for example, a team of researchers from Vanderbilt University who developed a solar cell using the photosynthetic protein found in spinach. In New York, Scape Studio has proposed to use the oyster's natural cleaning ability to help clean up the contaminated waters of the Gowanus Canal. The firm has received funding to create Oyster-tecture, an oyster park at the mouth of the canal where millions of mollusks will "eat" toxins. Meanwhile, the US Forest Service has been deriving cellulose nanocrystals from wood pulp extract to create a material that's stronger than Kevlar and carbon fiber.

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Inhabitat's Week in Green: fluorescent bulb moon, fuel-efficient supersonic jet and a toxin-eating oyster park originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 09 Sep 2012 10:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.