IEN Radio Eric Sorensen

Researchers at Southern Illinois University Carbondale have come up with a way to make 3D-printed food out of plastic waste. They call them µBites (microbites), and they could be the innovative answer to global problems over waste plastic and food scarcity. The process is fairly straightforward. The team mixes waste biomass and plastic, which is processed into slurry. A special yeast converts the slurry to proteins that are 3D-printed into various forms, like cookies.Download and listen ...

Another year, another potential shortage of Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce. Consumers, distributors and retailers have faced this dilemma before, but this time it has less to do with supply and more to do with color.USA Today obtained a letter sent to wholesalers by Huy Fong Foods, the company that makes Sriracha, the well-known hot sauce with the rooster on the label. It said that it would be halting production of the popular hot sauce until after Labor Day because red jalapeno peppers it uses to ...

After the initial launch for Boeing’s Starliner was scrapped last week due to a leaky valve, NASA could be looking to give it another go later this week. But one contractor is surprisingly and publicly asking the agency to reconsider the launch, which it warned could end in catastrophe.ValveTech, a company that designs and manufactures valves and other components for aerospace and military applications, issued a press release stating that a second attempt could result in a disaster occurring ...

On Thursday, 71-year-old Curtiss E. Jackson was convicted of a long-running scheme that bilked investors out of millions over a fraudulent boatbuilding and cruise business. Jackson and his wife, Jamey Jackson, owned Semisub Inc, a shipbuilding firm in Hawaii. Both sought investment in the company and for more than ten years told financial backers that the prototype vessel, the Semisub One, was just months, even weeks away from starting operations. Download and listen to the audio ve...

In early March, Rivian paused construction of a planned $5 billion electric truck plant in Georgia. The cost-cutting measure hoped to speed production, particularly of the company's midsize SUV, the R2, which will now be made at its existing plant in Normal, Illinois. To help make it happen, Rivian last Tuesday announced an incentive package worth $827 million from the State of Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity. The funds will help expand operations in Normal, im...

The Department of Justice announced on May 8 that a Florida woman pleaded guilty to a scheme that involved fraudulently procuring government contracts to supply critical military components to the Department of Defense.The woman, Yuksel Senbol, pleaded guilty to 25 felony counts, including violating the Arms Export Control Act and the Export Control Reform Act, money laundering and wire fraud. Download and listen to the audio version below and click here to subscribe to the Today in Manu...