McALLEN, Tex., June 15 — Antonio N. Zavaleta, a vice president and professor of anthropology at the University of Texas branch in Brownsville, saw a slight problem in the route of a border fence that federal officials displayed at a community meeting earlier this month.
“Part of our university,” Dr. Zavaleta said, “would be on the Mexican side of the fence.”
What about traffic between classes, he wondered. “Would the students need to show a passport?”
Continue Reading Some Texans Fear Border Fence Will Sever Routine of Daily Life
The usual choices for potatoes include baked, mashed or french fried, but a new study suggests another option: plastic.
A report by the University of Maine’s Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center says the state’s potato industry could benefit by becoming a producer of bioplastics, which are made from plant starch rather than crude oil and petroleum products.
Bioplastics can be used to produce carpeting, upholstery fabric and recyclable plastic bottles, the report said. Countries including the United Kingdom and Japan have turned to potato-based plastics technology to turn out such items as “spudware,” or plastic silverware made from potatoes.
Continue Reading Potatoes could be used for bioplastics