A team of students in Singapore has crafted Asia’s first 3D printed “urban solar electric car prototype.”

The car took over a year to build and contains as many as 150 parts that were 3D printed. The goal of the car, called the NTU Venture (NV) 8, is to offer superior fuel efficiency standards while amplifying internal space for comfort.

Ilmi Bin Abdul Wahab, a fourth-year computer engineering student at Nanyang Technological University who led the development of NV8, said of the design, “Despite being an urban concept car, it is no slouch and can reach a top speed of 60 kilometers per hour while maintaining low-energy consumption.”

The car, mounted on a carbon fiber single-shell chassis, is slated to participate in the Shell Eco-marathon Asia race hosted in Manila, the Philippines later this month.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced legislation that would provide federal funding to enhance education in the manufacturing space. The Manufacturing Universities Act of 2015 would create a program within the U.S. Commerce Department to select 25 “Manufacturing Universities.” Designated schools would receive $5 million per year for four years to meet specific goals related to engineering programs, building new partnerships with manufacturing firms, job training, and manufacturing entrepreneurship.

“As a small business owner who worked in manufacturing for over 35 years, I understand the difficulty in training and finding qualified manufacturing workers,” stated Rep. Chris Collins, R-New York. “To expand manufacturing in the United States, we need to have a workforce capable of filling these skilled jobs.”

“If we want businesses to expand and grow our economy, we need to make sure our workforce has the skills and training to match,” said Senator Gillibrand, D-New York. “No job should go unfilled and no company’s expansion should ever be inhibited because there aren’t enough trained workers. This legislation will equip more students with the advanced manufacturing skills and experience necessary to meet growing demand and ensure our manufacturing remains innovative and globally competitive.”

The director of the Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology would lead the charge in overseeing the program. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Delaware, and Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-South Carolina, introduced similar legislation during the previous session of Congress, but the measure failed to advance through the Senate’s education committee.

It’s hard to believe that we’ve only been using plastics regularly for roughly 50 years. Marketed as “the material of the future,” plastics have become pervasive in our lives by adding convenience.

A new exhibit entitled “Plastics Unwrapped,” at the Burke Museum located on the University of Washington campus, explores the impact plastics have had on our lives and the world. Included in the tour are a life before plastics view, engineering and medical achievements, environmental impacts, and insight into global consumption.

The exhibit offers a thought-provoking historical context to the evolution of plastics. It reminds us of the perils of our waste and leaves us with a hopeful notion that our plastic-recycling possibilities are limitless.

Check out Michael Upchurch’s review in the Seattle Times.

Did you know that every year, Americans throw away enough paper and plastic cups, forks, and spoons to circle the equator 300 times?

Many of us will be celebrating the finale of the football season by participating in a Super Bowl party. Plastic packaging is a great way to store, transport, and serve the food and drinks that will be consumed. Plastics Make it Possible® has offered advice on how to utilize plastics for the fête while remaining mindful of waste.

• Less Packaging: Look for multi-function packaging. For example, some prepared foods now are available in plastic packaging that keeps food fresh on store shelves, transforms into a convenient serving dish during the party, and re-seals to protect food during storage, creating less waste and clean up.

• Less Packaging Waste: Choose new minimalist packaging designs made with thin, lightweight plastics that protect food using less material, resulting in less packaging waste.  And lighter packaging means a lighter load and less fuel used when shipping food and drinks to stores.

• Less Food Waste: Don’t forget airtight plastic storage containers to help keep prepared foods fresh while transporting them to parties and tailgates. These durable, lightweight containers are easy to carry and also can be used as serving dishes, which results in less cleanup. Simply re-seal the container and refrigerate or freeze to preserve leftovers and prevent wasted food.

• More Streamlined Food Prep: Plastic kitchen tools help make game day food prep quicker and easier, so fans can spend more time enjoying the game and less in the kitchen. Use silicone plastic mats and baking molds to help cooked foods slide out easily—they also can reduce the amount of added fats needed to make game day treats.

• More Recycled Plastics: It’s now easy to find kitchen tools made with recycled plastics from used beverage bottles, yogurt containers, milk jugs, or other products. Look online or at local retailers for kitchenware made with recycled plastics, which increases the demand for recycled plastics and helps keep valuable materials out of landfills.

• More Plastics Recycling: Consumers in more than 90 percent of the U.S. can recycle plastic beverage bottles and caps, and nearly 58 percent can recycle plastic containers from foods such as yogurt, dips, spreads, and sour cream. Place a clearly labeled recycling bin next to the trashcan to make it easy for game day guests to recycle. Plastic bags and wraps can be returned for recycling to participating retail stores, such as Target and Lowe’s. (Sports fans can make sure they’re recycling everything they can by visiting Earth911.com and typing in a local zip code to find out what’s accepted in community recycling programs.)

What recipes are included in your Super Bowl feast?

Amidst a swarm of unfavorable publicity surrounding their manufacturing practices, Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook announces plans to invest nearly $100 million to move a portion of Mac computer production back to the United States. Apple shifted a majority of its production to Asia beginning in the 1990s due to the cheap labor costs and the scale of operations available in factories. Scrutiny reached a fever pitch for this practice once working conditions in a contracted manufacturing plant were revealed.

It remains unclear which US manufacturers will be utilized for fabrication, and which processes will be performed on US soil. An Apple official confirmed that the scope of the plan includes more than just assembling parts that were produced elsewhere.

While the move will provide a much-needed boost to the manufacturing industry in the United States, it will continue to fuel the debate on the United States’ ability to remain a hub for manufacturing in the world.