Packaging helps keep food safe from spoilage, and currently, many food items are wrapped in plastic. But growing concerns about the effects of plastic when it ends up in the environment have prompted researchers to explore alternative packaging materials, including those that can be eaten right along with the foods they are protecting. Recent papers published in ACS journals report on progress toward edible food packaging materials.

A team of researchers led by UNSW Sydney have mapped this timescale of the Tasmanian devils' whisker for the first time, showing that their whiskers can capture seasonal dietary changes over at least nine months and potentially up to a year.

Canada’s stringent eligibility screenings for medical transition — to prevent “regret” or detransition — ignore trans people’s gender related perspectives and experiences, says York University Professor Kinnon R. MacKinnon, lead author of a new study, “Preventing transition “regret”: An institutional ethnography of gender-affirming medical care assessment practices in Canada” published in the December issue of Elsevier’s Social Science & Medicine journal

Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) — honeycomb-like structures of metal ions and organic linkers— have exceptionally large surface areas and porosities that scientists have exploited for various applications, such as industrial carbon capture, fuel storage and harvesting water from the air. Recently, MOFs were also found to conduct electrical charge, opening doors to new applications, according to a cover story in Chemical & Engineering News, an independent news outlet of the American Chemical Society.