As managing editor of Here is an interesting story about a pretty exotic application for plastics.
It's from ABC News, and it's about using polymer nanospheres to deliver chemotherapy drugs more effectively, while easing the suffering of patients.
According to Dr. Martina Stenzel, a polymer scientist at the University of New South Wales in Australia, the body naturally attacks the toxins in anticancer drugs, so patients receiving chemotherapy treatments have to get numerous IV injections to keep the drugs at an effective concentration.
By putting the drugs in nanospheres, doctors might be able to inject patients just once a week, and the spheres would slowly release the drug precisely where it is needed. Stenzel is with the university's Center for Advanced Macromolecular Design.
This story is further proof that the uses for plastics are incredibly diverse, and new applications are still coming.