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Scientists Have Invented Paper That You Can Print With Light, Erase With Heat, and Reuse 80 Times (qz.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Quartz: Nearly 1% of carbon emissions annually can be attributed to paper production, even though we recycle much of the paper we produce. Yadong Yin has a solution. He and his colleagues at the University of California at Riverside have invented a type of paper that can be printed on using just light, erased by heating, and reused up to 80 times. Yin created nanoparticles, which are a million times smaller than the thickness of human hair, with the dye Prussian blue, or its chemical analogues, and titanium oxide, which is commonly used in white wall paint. This mixture is then applied to normal paper. When the coating is exposed to ultraviolet light, electrons from titanium oxide move to the dye in the nanoparticle. This addition of electrons makes the blue dye turn white. Focusing the ultraviolet light into shapes, you can print white words on a blue background -- or blue words on a white background, which are easier to read. If left alone, the paper reverts to its original state in five days. That process can be accelerated by heating the paper to 120 C (250 F) for 10 minutes.
Where is my document gone??????
Now all we need is a new printer that doesn't jam when the paper is not perfectly smooth.
And that's why we can't have nice things.
Technically this is great and smart (and I am a tech geek, otherwise I wouldn't be hanging around here).
What miffs me no end is the contraposition to a simple solution of the mentioned problem (CO_2 emmissions related to paper use): less waste & more recycling... by simply shifting economic incentives. Lest the liberal-radicals cry "Oh, no! Don't touch the Holy Free Market!". Thanks to those idiots we'll have to put up with being flooded with TiO_2 nanoparticles before really having understood what they do with us.
They can use this for all internal and external communications and never have to admit that they lied or changed their position.
Why is Snark Required?
you, insensitive clod!
See? This is your employment contract with your signature at the bottom, and it says right here in clause 13a that we're allowed to ride you like a donkey every 2nd Tuesday.
I think this is great for scratch pads but unless there's also a way to make the print last longer the applications would be limited. "If left alone, the paper reverts to its original state in five days. That process can be accelerated by heating the paper to 120 C (250 F) for 10 minutes." Slowest Etch-a-Sketch ever?
The one thing I print things for is to be able to annotate by hand. That will not work with this paper, obviously, or require special markers. I also need these notes typically significantly longer than 5 days.
The only way to deal with this is to recycle paper. Where I live it is solved very simply: Normal trash you pay for by volume actually produced (you need to use special bags). Paper, cardboard, metal and glass you can either throw in the normal trash and pay for it or collect it separately and dispose of it for free.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
... Wipe our asses with it?
So he invented Dito paper without the smell ? what's the use ?
Sanity is the trademark of a weak mind. -- Mark Harrold
That process can be accelerated by heating the paper to 120 C (250 F) for 10 minutes.
Or, just forget your documents in the car in summer one day and have them all erased.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
Finally paper voting comes to same level as electronic.
It uses regular paper as its base and then is coated with their nanoparticle brew, and it's supposed to be a resource saver?
Maybe in a closed loop environment where there is a ton of printing for short-term purposes where the week-long lifetime doesn't matter AND you can re-use the paper close to the maximum number. But what do you bet in real life it would get printed on once and then the paper rendered impossible to print on due to wrinkling, tears, etc.
Although at so many offices there's a printer and then there's the inbox-type container with ream-and-a-half stack of printouts that nobody collects from the printer and that just sit there until the inbox overflows and somebody dumps the entire stack into the recycling bin.
Perhaps if the printer could do an erase stage at the start of a print job you could have a printer that automatically recycles the output bin after 30 minutes back to the tray so it could be erased again.
So you reduce the demand for new paper you cut down on the trees planted.
Can they also prove particles are harmless for the environment ? Where does the heat come from ? And how much energy does it take to apply the stuff ? What's the chance of mixing it up with normal paper and throwing it away too soon ?
"This document will self-destruct in five days."
Using more paper means growing more trees. On land that migh otherwise sit idle or be used for worse purposes. Trees capture and convert carbon dioxide.
Is that even considered in the process of determining that paper causes 1% of the 'bad'?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blueprint
"Moogs! Would YOU buy that for a quarter?" CMK
And now y'all have an idea of how old I am.
Again? I think PARC invented this about 10 years ago..
Americans spent millions of dollars inventing paper that you can print with light, erase with heat, and reuse 80 times. ...
The Russians just used a pencil and an eraser.
Future apocryphal story. As true as the one it's based on.
Kill both sides, leaves the normal people in peace.
It's likely to be pretty safe. The process uses Prussian blue (iron hexacyanoferrate) and titanium oxide (presumably titanium (IV) oxide, given the reference to white paint). Prussian blue is non-toxic and highly stable, despite containing cyanide groups (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prussian_blue#Adverse_effects) and is actually used as a treatment for heavy metal poisoning. Titanium (IV) oxide is so safe it's often used as a food additive, as well as already being a component of many papers - it helps make them more white and opaque. Safety issues have been raised over some sizes of titanium oxide nanoparticle (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanium_dioxide#Health_and_safety) but despite this they're still widely used in products like sunscreen.
At last!
"This message will self-destruct in 10 seconds"... (well, OK, 5 days)
Paper is cheap. It can be recycled. Trees are renewable. I don't see the need for this new paper, other than possible use in a Mission Impossible movie.
The point of paper is that it's semi-permanent. That's why it's used so much. This does absolutely nothing to reduce the need for traditional paper. You could do the same thing with a decent tablet already, and for most things you just don't.
How will this affect my paperless office?
The only reason Titanium oxide has not been banned yet is strong lobbying by the food industry.
It is well known to be a highly reactive substance (used in drugs to increase their penetration in cells). Sprinkling it right and left in direct contact with human beings, and hope they are not simultaneously exposed to something that will react with it, is sheer madness.
But then, profit first, class actions second.
Ok,it maybe usless in most offices.
But for t-shirt printing it sounds good,a new saying/picture every 5 days,sounds good to me...
What makes the reaction fade ?
Perhaps it would be possible to seal them slightly and print them in layers so you automatically get new image etc one after the other over a few months/year !!
Student to teacher: The heater ate my homework.
The difference is that the white portions still have ink and the whole thing can be erased. Otherwise it works the same way, yes.
Like the sort of people who would fly into a rage and violently protest the speech of a gay Jew? Like in Berkeley last week?
I can't stand Milo, but he has the right to speak his mind just like anyone else. Shutting him down was a shameful example of muzzling free speech. Left unchecked, "social justice" seems to morph into the "tyranny of the politically correct" every goddamn time.
Supporting "free speech" means supporting the kind of speech we disagree with or even hate, it doesn't mean allowing only the kind of speech we happen to agree with or find acceptable.
So to all of you self-righteous silencers out there, if you don't support the kind of speech you detest, you're not supporting free speech. It's a shame that so many people just don't get this.
Most recently the suppression of opposing opinions as been rebranded as the "no platforming", which is just suppression of free speech under a new, trendy term.
Again, I can't stand Milo Yiannopoulos- he's a self-loathing toady, but even he gets things right once in a while. While I disagree with 95% of the shit that comes out of his mouth, he should have the right to spew his nonsense just like anyone else.
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
Reproduce the smell of a mimeograph printed sheet!
This message will self destruct in five days.
Quote: When the coating is exposed to ultraviolet light, electrons from titanium oxide move to the dye in the nanoparticle.
Sounds like they want us to replace an easily renewed technology, plain paper, with one involving a relatively scare an non-renewable metal, titanium
Not a good idea, although I would not be surprised if environmentalists went gah-gah over since such paper would cost more.
Does it smell like duplicator fluid or diazo?
It used to be called being polite in polite company and only ranting about all women being whores useless even for that (Milo is a nasty piece of shit isn't he?) among those who didn't care what crap came out of a mouth. Of course people can do it just like some people always have, but of course it's going to piss people off when it's the wrong time and place.
This "tyranny of the politically correct" is IMHO just a new way of whining about an age-old situation, unless it's complaining about not being able to insult people in certain ways.
OK, you want to silence the "silencers"? Pointing shit out is not exactly silencing people even if you don't want to hear their shit, it cuts both ways.
For one, the IRS. They love their paper for all but simple tax filing. I recently had a minor issue and they would accept FAX, or paper snail mail corrections. FAX? who does FAX anymore. Paper meant I had to print out a new copy of the corrected form from pdf and then mail it. Two pieces of paper.
It's neat, but should have been invented 30 years ago when we still used paper.
Here's the biggest problem with what happened at Berkeley, and this disgusts me. What the left did in their "demonstrations" turned Milo Yiannopoulos the victim. Stop and think about that for a minute. He now has a platform to plead for sympathy. If you want to shut him down, go to his talk, and ask him questions. Make him look like an idiot. People like him are easy to catch in contradictory statements and are easy to discredit. Just make him look like a fool by his own hand. It's the most effective way to shut somebody like him down. Setting things on fire and forcing his appearances to be canceled by violence turns him into a martyr and harms your own cause.
And to people saying he may have brought in the violence instigators himself, I don't believe that. The week prior he gave a talk near me at CU Boulder. It was protested the correct way with minimal trouble. And CU Boulder is nearly as liberal as Berkeley and inciting a riot there would have helped him nearly as much as at Berkeley.
I recall decades ago Xerox tried marketing an erasable paper copy machine. Never heard of it? Right. It wasn't popular.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
...in keeping a piece of paper at 120 degrees for ten minutes.
cool! I'm always running out.
Can anybody tell me why not?
I've said it a million times..... in the US we are guaranteed the right to offend, not the right to not be offended.
Far too many people seem to think they have the right to not be offended. And some of those people actually hold public office, which should be pretty disturbing to anyone with a brain.
FAX? who does FAX anymore.
I guess the "fax gene" is spreading through Washington:
The next story up is FBI Will Revert To Using Fax Machines, Snail Mail For FOIA Requests
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
I can still print out animated .GIFs, right?
Yes.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Not allowing hate speech is not in any way shape or form disallowing freedom of speech. No Milo's does not have a right to speak.
how DO you get to paperless?
This way worked for a large part of human history.
It's not efficient but the way things are going we may get to that point.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Have your congress critters write any stupid laws like DMCA on this, any damage gets undone after a few days.
Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
Titanium dioxide and zinc oxide are the 2 most common white pigments. It might be appropriate to ban it in foods (I'm ignorant here) but ban it generally, no way.
Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
Blueprints and other diazotypes use ammonia to develop the image.
Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
Unless this paper costs less than 80 times the cost of a sheet of regular paper, it's a dumb idea. Not to mention the energy used in heating every sheet of paper you use to 120C instead of just recycling it.
Not to mention that growing trees sequesters carbon.
Grow more trees! Use more paper!
Depends on the size of the sheet, but a typical A4 sheet weighs 5 grams. You can figure out the weight of carbon in cellulose yourself though...
... used the same technology to detect goblins.
- First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then ???, then profit.
Pointing things out should not involve burning other peoples property or threatening physical violence. And there is a difference between saying all X are Y and actually acting like all X are Y or even going around referring to all X as Y. It's not like anyone could know all X, except when X is a very small group.
I find Milo to be funny and the reactions to him even more so.
"nanoparticles, which are a million times smaller than the thickness of human hair"
HELL NO!!!
When stuff like this gets in the environment and starts clogging up capillaries in the eyes and kidneys the people that created it should be punished publicly. Blindness and a lifetime of dialysis just because of some self aggrandizing scientists. Children doomed to a life of darkness and pain.
Kill both sides, leaves the normal people in peace.
Stranger, you seem a might queer to me.
people in my office would just throw this away just like regular paper
they throw soda cans in the trash right next to the collection bin
Cyanotype printing was invented in 1842
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
love is just extroverted narcissism
We've had disappearing ink for centuries. What good is this?
I don't want to see any "innovative" paper products until my grocery receipt is dollar-sized and printed on paper with out Bisphenol or some other such toxic nonsense on it. How many times have you bought just a couple things, and they hand you your receipt with the cash and the receipt is 3 times longer than a dollar and a lot wider too? What's up with that?
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
Any word yet as to how easily it will be for these nanoparticles to rub off and get into people's lungs?
Very small particle pollution is a major source of lung cancer. As is often the case with most of new technology, there is little thought as to the long term health and environmental consequences of production and use. Such issues tend to be ignored in the rush to make money, but can end up costing everyone more than anyone expected, in many cases their very lives.
OK, you want to silence the "silencers"? Pointing shit out is not exactly silencing people even if you don't want to hear their shit, it cuts both ways.
No, I never said anything about silencing people, in fact what I said was pretty much the opposite. Here's what I said:
So to all of you self-righteous silencers out there, if you don't support the kind of speech you detest, you're not supporting free speech.
How did you manage to warp that statement into me wanting to silence anyone?
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
So, here's the perfect solution for libraries. Print-on-demand the book, assume it dies in five days, and then it is free to loan to the next person. You don't need a building full of dead trees, just reams of this paper and the special printer. This keeps the people who want paper books happy, solves the problem of paying late return fees.
Been in the copier/printer business for over 35 years. Every major brand, has tried the "erasable" trick before, with terrible results. Mainly, the powder toner, reacts differently under a specific temperature. At one temperature, you can read the print. At another temperature, it turns the toner crystals/powder "clear". You can reuse the same paper about 3-5 times, before there is so much toner "clear" on the paper, that it leaves blank spots in areas where the toner is suppose to be, but can't adhere to the paper. Plus, even on clean paper, once erased, if you hold it to the light just right, you can barely make out the old print. These things were designed for simple inter-office memo type things I guess. The other drawback, is the erasable toner, is VERY VERY expensive. One manufacturer, could not sell them, so they took it in the rear, gave them away to school systems. We set up a bunch, at no charge, gave them to a bunch of schools. By the time they started replacing the empty toner, and paying for it, they gave them all back. The manufacturer didn't want them back, so we stripped out any usable things, then sent the rest to a e-waste recycle company for disposal. This idea, using the paper, will probably be expensive, since it will take "special" paper. The other problem, is, with special paper, and the many variable temperature ranges that most printers and photocopiers fuse the toner into the paper, usually in a range of 300-400 degrees, and the many curves that paper must make during its travel, not to mention will it work on duplexing (2 sided) copying, I don't really see anything other than a "niche" market for something like this.
Don't take it personally - I'm describing all those who are suggesting everyone who is "politically correct" should shut up.
I should have replaced the word "you" in that final two sentences but missed it.
As I see it a lot of the "alt-right" shit is about shouting other people down. That's not good IMHO from either end and is the way to spot an extremist.
I should have replaced the word "you" in that final two sentences but missed it.
No problem, I find myself doing that and it's often misconstrued as being aimed at the person I'm conversing with.
And yes, Milo is a nasty piece of shit. I find 95% of the stuff he says to be deliberately inflammatory, misleading, or unfairly generalizing. Once in a very great while he'll say something that actually makes some sense, but he revels in pushing buttons just for the outrage value and I'll give him credit for being skilled at it.
The fact is that he's a bitter, self-loathing gay man who would be among the first to be lynched if his vision of society were ever to come to pass. He supports the very kind of people that would put a bullet in his head the moment they had the chance. The lack of rational self-awareness he demonstrates is mind-boggling.
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
Speech that you hate != Hate speech.
An etch-a-sketch is much simpler to use an erase and it even lasts longer