A Taiwanese-designed biodegradable bottle cap that hermit crabs can use as their homes won gold at this year’s World Innovation and Invention Competition in South Korea, as Taiwan ranked first overall, according to the results, which were announced yesterday.
The competition attracted 243 entries from 12 countries, including Taiwan, which submitted 51 inventions, as well as Canada, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea, Thailand and Turkey.
Chen Chien-chih (陳建志), a lecturer at National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education, led Tseng Yung-ting (曾詠婷), Lee Pin-an (李品諳), Wang Tzu-yuan (王子轅) and Ke Yung-cheng (柯永誠), a team of students from different backgrounds, in creating the biodegradable cap.
Photo courtesy of the Chinese Innovation and Invention Society
Made of plastarch material — a biodegradable thermoplastic resin that is derived from corn starch — the cap can serve as a home for hermit crabs before it decomposes.
Many hermit crabs are forced to use bottle caps as homes, as people remove the seashells the crustaceans typically use from beaches, Chen said, adding that they can die without suitable shells to live in.
The team designed a waterproof layer in the cap made with edible wax, which would not harm sea birds if ingested by accident.
Chen said he hopes the caps raise awareness about conservation.
The team has already obtained a patent for the cap.
Another gold-winning invention was a method for recycling lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles, conceived by Da-Yeh University environmental engineering professor Lee Ching-hwa (李清華) and graduate students Huang Yu-jui (黃于睿) and Shih Chen-hsuan (施辰宣).
The team used hydrometallurgical techniques to recycle valuable metals such as lithium, aluminum, cobalt, nickel, manganese and copper from the batteries of scrapped vehicles to promote a circular economy and curb environmental pollution, they said.
They have filed a patent for the project, which has been awarded a grant from the National Science and Technology Council.
Other gold-winning inventions included an interactive picture book created by a team led by Yen Ying-hung (閆嬰紅) at Asia Eastern University of Science and Technology; a smart pressure testing system for table tennis players devised by Tsai Meng-hsiun (蔡孟勳) and his students at National Chung Hsing University; and a fast decanter invented by Liu Wei-wu (劉緯武) and his students at Hungkuo Delin University of Technology.
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “(we) appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry