Hot on the heels of the news that we may be able to use sugar to make products currently manufactured with oil, we got to wondering: what else is the sweet stuff good for? Here are five ways to use sugar and its byproducts that won't rot your teeth.
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1) Researchers at Saint Louis University in Missouri have developed a fuel cell battery that runs on virtually any sugar source -- from soft drinks to tree sap -- and has the potential to operate three to four times longer on a single charge than conventional lithium ion batteries.
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2) This tasty-looking coffee table made of sugar and compressed coffee beans is a functioning item, recycling innovation, and an artful expression, all rolled in to one. Something to ponder: Will my dog want to chew on it?
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3) Made from natural sugar cane alcohol, Ecoflame is a cooking fuel that burns cleaner, hotter and more efficiently than petroluem-based fuels, we're told. Certified under Canada's Environmental Choice Program, it is non-toxic, non-explosive, has no harmful emissions, is safe for use indoors and outdoors and is smokeless and odor free. The remaining two picks are after the jump...
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4) Combine selvage denim with the fiber from sweet sorghum and you've got Sugarcane Jeans. The fiber, derived from the plant otherwise known as sweet millet or sugar millet, is a type of grass grown all over the world for making a molasses-like syrup and animal feed; as such, the jeans have a faint sweet smell and may have occasional woody tufts poking out of the fabric.
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5) The Sugar Cane Body Polish tub of scrub smells so good you might want to eat it, but works really well to boot. How? “Sugar cane grains gently exfoliate,” says the manufacturer, “while oils from kukui nut, macadamia, almond, and sunflower penetrate skin with deep healing emollients, vitamins and essential fatty acids.” Mmm...
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I think you should add the sugar-based 3D printer "CandyFab 4000" by EvilMadScientist.com; everybody should have one of these. Especially me. (Even though the output may be edible.)
(Plus, of course, about $0.37/pound of output.) A truly sweet technology.