First Gene-Edited Crop Hits the Consumer Market, Ushering in a New Era of Cheaper, Healthier Food Mar 18

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III. ACTIVE THEMATIC IDEAS

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Long 3D Printing →

Short U.S. Housing →

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US Consumer Sentiment Beats Forecasts →

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IV. MACROECONOMIC INDICATORS

Key data releases relevant to MRP’s Active Thematic Ideas.

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US Job Openings Hit Fresh Record →

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After the Inflation Intermission →

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V. JOE MAC’S VIEWPOINT

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Patience, Patience →

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I. TODAY’S MARKET INSIGHT

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TODAY’S MARKET INSIGHT


THEME ALERT: AN ACTIVE MRP THEME
First Gene-Edited Crop Hits the Consumer Market, Ushering in a New Era of Cheaper, Healthier Food

Startups are experimenting with the gene-editing technology CRISPR to make lab-grown meat a commercially viable reality. Meanwhile, the first commercially available gene-edited crop just hit the consumer market, ushering in a new era of healthier, safer, tastier and cheaper food courtesy of genetic engineering.

About 30% of the calories consumed globally by humans come from meat products, including beef, chicken, and pork. That translates to a staggering number of animals grown and slaughtered for food, a process that is deemed unsustainable as the world population expands.

Luckily for die-hard carnivores, we are closer than ever to being able to build a steak or burger patty out of sample cells from a live cow.

Gene-Editing Makes Lab-Grown Meat an Attainable Reality …

Silicon Valley startups are experimenting with the gene-editing technology CRISPR to make lab-grown chicken, pork, and beef. Lab-grown meat, also known as clean, cultured, or cell-based meat, is an innovation that allows for real chicken, beef, fish and other animal proteins to be made in a lab from animal cells instead of from slaughter. So far, only prototypes of lab-grown meats exist. The industry cannot become mainstream until food scientists figure out how to make production cheaper, more scalable and more eco-friendly.

Right now, most cell-based meat companies get the stem cells for their products from a small piece of tissue taken from a live animal. The technique relies on brewing the cells from that sample in vats until there’s enough tissue for a slab of edible flesh. One major impediment is that cells from cows (and chickens) stop replicating over time, unless those cells are fed a ”serum” that happens to be derived from slaughtered cows. That’s problematic, because the point of cell-based meat is to be able to produce meat from self-reproducing cells, thereby avoiding the need to breed, raise and slaughter animals.

Some companies are turning to CRISPR technology to overcome the catch-22 problem of how to coax animal cells in labs to keep regenerating without having to slaughter cows to feed those cells. Just as CRISPR allows for very precise edits, like clipping out a gene that controls browning and replacing it with one that extends the shelf-life of a fruit or vegetable, the technique could potentially allow meat cells to replicate indefinitely. At least, that’s what Memphis Meats, a startup whose backers include Bill Gates and Richard Branson, is hoping to accomplish in the near future.

Thus, by combining the dual emerging technologies of Crispr + cell-based meat, scientists hope to make lab-grown meat commercially viable, which would upend the near $1 trillion global meat industry. Dutch startup Mosa Meats is looking to mass-produce lab-grown meat by the year 2021, and claims it could make up to80,000 quarter pounders from a single sample of cells. For many investors following this space (and foodies), lab-grown potentially serves as a bridge between real meat and plant-based products.

… And the First Gene-Edited Food Hits the Consumer Market

While lab-grown meats are still a couple of years away from going mainstream, the first gene-edited food did hit the market this month. By using gene-editing technology to deactivate two genes found in soybeans, Minnesota-based agriculture company Calyxt(Nasdaq: CLXT) says it has created a soybean oil with no trans fats and more heart-healthy fats than other soybean oils.

Traditional soybean-based cooking oil contains trans fats which are known to raise cholesterol levels and can contribute to heart disease. Tran fats have such a bad reputation that last year the FDA required food companies to remove them completely from US food supplies, causing restaurants and food manufacturers to scramble to find alternatives.

In contrast to GMO foods which are the result of scientists mixing and matching genes from different organisms, gene-edited foods simply snip out the parts of the genome that carry an undesirable trait. Gene editing is also simpler, cheaper, and faster than creating GMOs.

And, because the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has pronounced them to be just as safe as crops produced through conventional breeding practices, gene-edited products won’t have to bear any special identifying markers on their labels like the ones seen on GMO foods at the supermarkets. That’s a boon for Calyxt and other companies seeking to usher in a new era of healthier, safer, tastier and cheaper food courtesy of genetic engineering.

THEME ALERT

MRP added Long CRISPR to our list of themes on June 14, 2018 to capitalize on the transformational impact of gene editing technology on various industries. Since then, the ARK Genomic Revolution Multi-Sector ETF (ARKG) has returned 8% versus a flat S&P 500 (SPY). The ARKG fund provides exposure to CRISPR, gene editing, therapeutics, agricultural biology and health care innovation.

Our readers can find more writeups on this topic in MRP’s Gene-Editing Archives.

Genomic Revolution vs S&P 500

Source material for today’s market insight…

Gene Editing

The First Gene-Edited Food Has Reached US Restaurants

A food service company in the Midwestern region of the United States is now using an oil made from genetically edited soybeans in its sauces, dressings, and fryer. The company that makes the oil claims this is the first commercial use of a gene-edited crop — possibly signaling the start of a new era of healthier, cheaper food courtesy of genetic engineering.

By using gene-editing technology to deactivate two genes found in soybeans, Minnesota-based agriculture company Calyxt says it’s created a soybean oil with no trans fats and more heart-healthy fats than traditional soybean oils. The company told the Associated Press that the oil also has a longer shelf life, which could decrease costs for consumers.

Calyxt won’t name the restaurant using its oil, citing “competitive reasons” for keeping the information secret, but the news that anyone is using a gene-edited crop in the U.S. could spur others to follow suit

Gene Editing

Why the future of gene-edited foods is in the balance

The distinction between gene editing and GM could be crucial for the way regulators treat crops produced with the two technologies. Plant biologists such as Prof Jones argue that creating new varieties through GE is closer to non-genetic processes. (These might include conventional mutagenesis in which chemicals are used to change an organism’s DNA without inserting new genes.) Therefore, the scientists say, the plants should not have to pass through as many regulatory hoops as new GM varieties.

The issue is particularly important in Europe, which has lagged far behind north and Latin America in licensing GM crops, mainly because of stronger consumer and political resistance. Opponents have objected to the potential impact of genetically altered crops both on the environment, by altering the ecological balance that sustains wildlife, and on human health.

Scientists’ hopes that the EU would take a more liberal attitude to GE were dashed last July when the European Court of Justice ruled gene-edited crops should be subject to the same stringent regulations as GMOs. “This ruling closes the door to many beneficial genetic modifications such as breeding of disease-resistant plants that require much less pesticide input,” says Sophien Kamoun, another senior scientist at the Sainsbury Lab. “A sad day for European plant science.”

But some legal and regulatory experts say the ECJ ruling may not be as far-reaching as plant scientists fear. “If the ECJ ruling were to be interpreted to mean that all genome-edited organisms are by definition GMOs, then this would — apart from the impact on innovation — result in unenforceable regulation,” says Piet van der Meer, who was closely involved in the development of EU GMO regulations.

Gene Editing

Scientists Are Fleeing America’s Rules About Gene-Editing Animals

Some scientists are moving their labs out of the U.S. to countries with fewer restrictions on their work, according to the Genetic Literacy Project.

The heart of the issue stems from a 2017 proposal by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to regulate animals with “intentionally-altered” DNA as though they were veterinary drugs. That would impose stricter restrictions on scientists who alter the genomes of livestock — meaning American universities could miss out on new scientific developments.

Experts like University of California Davis animal biotechnologist Alison Van Eenennaam argue that the new regulations are paying attention to the wrong thing, according to the GLP. Instead of evaluating whether an animal is still food safe, Van Eenennaam argues that the FDA regulations will arbitrarily stymie scientific progress.

The GLP previously reported on biologist Charles Long, who said that the FDA regulations motivated him to move his cattle genetics research from Texas A&M University, where he struggled to secure funding, down to Brazil. “We’ve essentially given up,” Long told The GLP. “I’m going to move the entire damn project down there.”

Gene Editing

Gene-edited animals could help humanity, but they’re in ‘regulatory limbo’

The ability to precisely edit genes with technology such as CRISPR has changed the bounds of possibility for science. That was demonstrated recently in the case of the as-yet-unconfirmed gene edited CRISPR babies, who each had a specific edit done as embryos (although that edit might be less straightforward than originally thought.) For the first time ever, two humans have the potential to pass on altered genes to their offspring.

The World Health Organization responded by forming an expert committee to create an international advisory on gene editing in humans, in an attempt to reach some kind of consensus on what is and is not okay. But gene editing has already gone much farther, and is moving much faster, in non-human animals and plants. Are there sweeping international pronouncements on the way other animals should or should not be gene edited? “Not that I’m aware of,” says Larisa Rudenko.

Non-human animals aren’t regulated under international pronouncements in the same way humans are, Rudenko says. There are a few reasons for this. First, she says, the existing advisories surrounding animals tend to deal with the ways humans use animals for food or experimentation.

Those include documents like the Codex Alimentarius, a set of international food standards produced by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and WHO. The Codex includes information on how to assess the food safety of genetically modified organisms, whether microbe, plant, or animal.

You’ll find all of our recent Market Insight reports on the MRP website →

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II. MARKET INSIGHT UPDATES

MARKET INSIGHT UPDATES

Markets →

Bonds

As Fed’s QE Era Ends, a New Trillion-Dollar Bond Dilemma Emerges

Economics & Trade →

Germany is Europe’s most economically dangerous country

LATAM

American Airlines suspends flights to Venezuela amid unrest

Finance →

Startups

Amazon is introducing private investors to high-risk start-ups in a new pilot program

Services →

Cannabis

Facebook And Whole Foods Offer New Indicators Of Welcome Cannabis Trends

Esports

Esports ad revenue will exceed $200M by 2020, eMarketer says

Manufacturing & Logistics →

Firearms

Remington and Other Gun Companies Lose Major Ruling Over Liability

Technology →

3DP THEME ALERT

Nanofabrica commercializes micron resolution additive manufacturing technology

AgTech

Chinese startup sows seeds of farm revolution with drones and AI

Data Collection

Hedge funds are watching a key lawsuit involving LinkedIn to see if they can spend billions on web-scraped data

New Materials

Lightweight Metal Foams Become Bone Hard and Explosion Proof After Being Nanocoated

Transportation →

Aviation

Boeing’s Suppliers Wait for Answers, Too

Commodities →

Oil THEME ALERT

OPEC Threatens To Kill U.S. Shale

Oil THEME ALERT

IEA sees oil market flipping into deficit in second quarter

Energy & Environment →

Environment

12 signs we’re in the middle of a 6th mass extinction

Biotechnology & Healthcare →

Gene Editing THEME ALERT

The First Gene-Edited Food Has Reached US Restaurants

Gene Editing THEME ALERT

Why the future of gene-edited foods is in the balance

Gene Editing THEME ALERT

Scientists Are Fleeing America’s Rules About Gene-Editing Animals

Gene Editing THEME ALERT

Gene-edited animals could help humanity, but they’re in ‘regulatory limbo’

Endnote →

The United States Of Artificial Intelligence Startups

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IV. MACROECONOMIC INDICATORS

MACROECONOMIC INDICATORS

Week Ahead

This week, the Fed and the BoE will decide on interest rates but no changes are expected. Other important releases include: US factory orders, flash Markit PMIs and existing home sales; UK jobless rate and wage growth, retail sales and inflation; Eurozone consumer confidence and flash Markit PMIs; Japan trade data, inflation and Nikkei Manufacturing PMI; Australia employment figures; the BoJ and the RBA meeting minutes; and interest rate decisions from Brazil, Norway, Switzerland, Russia, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines.

US Consumer Sentiment Beats Forecasts

The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment for the US increased to 97.8 in March of 2019 from 93.8 in February, beating market expectations of 95.3, preliminary estimates showed. It is the highest reading in three months, amid rising income and lower inflation expectations and more positive growth prospects.

US Job Openings Hit Fresh Record

The number of job openings in the US reached a new all-time high of 7.581 million in January 2019 from an upwardly revised 7.479 million in the previous month, easily beating market expectations of 7.31 million.

US NY Empire State Manufacturing Index at 22-Month Low

The New York Empire State Manufacturing Index in the United States fell 5.1 points from the previous month to 3.7 in March 2019, missing market expectations of 10. It is the weakest reading since May 2017. Looking ahead, firms remained fairly optimistic about future conditions.

US Industrial Output Rebound Weaker than Expected

US industrial output edged up 0.1 percent from a month earlier in February 2019, following a revised 0.4 percent fall in January and missing market expectations of a 0.4 percent gain.

Foreigners Sell $144 Billion of US Assets in January

Overseas investors sold USD 143.7 billion of US assets, including short-dated instruments, in January 2019 after selling an upwardly USD 113.5 billion in December. Meanwhile, foreigners sold USD 7.2 billion of long-term US securities, including government and corporate, after selling USD 48.3 billion in the previous month. Foreign investors bought USD 23.0 billion of US treasuries, after buying a revised USD 15 billion in December.

I. TODAY’S MARKET INSIGHT

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III. ACTIVE THEMATIC IDEAS

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V. JOE MAC’S VIEWPOINT

JOE MAC’S VIEWPOINT

February 28, 2019
After the Inflation Intermission →
Headline inflation has shifted into a downtrend over the past few months, largely due to a sharp decline in energy prices toward the end of 2018. The core CPI, however, shows that, aside from food and energy, inflation remains above 2%.While the Fed is going to need more than that to shift them out of their “patient” position on interest rates, MRP believes thata rebound in the price of crude oil and other commodities, as well as consumer staples and other finished goods will continueto push inflation higher throughout 2019.


Other Viewpoint Reports

January 31, 2019

Joe Mac’s Market Viewpoint: Patience, Patience →

December 6, 2018

Joe Mac’s Market Viewpoint: The Next Handle →

October 31, 2018

Joe Mac’s Market Viewpoint: A Review of Our-Change Driven Themes →

September 28, 2018

Joe Mac’s Market Viewpoint: FX Matters →

See all of Joe’s Viewpoints on our website →

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II. MARKET INSIGHT UPDATES

MARKET INSIGHT UPDATES: SUMMARIES

Markets

Bonds

As Fed’s QE Era Ends, a New Trillion-Dollar Bond Dilemma Emerges

More than a decade after it all began, the Federal Reserve is finally nearing the end of its grand experiment in monetary policy.The Fed, which has been paring its crisis-era debt holdings, may lay out plans to end the program at its meeting next week. Yet in the Treasury market, the close of the quantitative-easing era could open another can of worms.

While Fed officials have made it clear they want to go back to owning mostly Treasuries, as they did before the financial crisis, it’s unclear how the central bank will get there or what it will buy. Its current policy, replacing mortgage bonds only when they mature, could take a decade or more. That’s led some to advocate outright sales, which the Fed has never done. Then, there’s the debate over whether the central bank will favor short-term Treasuries over long-term debt, or simply buy whatever the U.S. Treasury auctions off.

“People are way too focused on when the Fed is going to end the balance-sheet shrinkage,” said William Dudley, former head of the New York Fed, who is now a professor at Princeton University. “That question is actually pretty trivial relative to the question of what is the Fed’s balance sheet going to look like over the long run.”

Economics & Trade

Germany is Europe’s most economically dangerous country

Germany is headed almost certainly for a significant slowdown in growth and very possibly into a recession. Which route the country takes has major implications for Europe and the rest of the world.

After recording zero growth in the fourth quarter of 2018, narrowly avoiding back-to-back quarters of economic contraction, one of Germany’s most prestigious research institutes Thursday cut its expectations for German growth this year by almost half.

The Munich-based Ifo Institute also said the pace of employment growth is decelerating. That followed data showing the country’s all important manufacturing sector had significantly slowed, badly undershooting economists’ expectations. That’s a major problem for Germany because exports make up about half of its GDP.

“Germany’s economy is really exposed to any shifts in the international market,” George Friedman, founder and chairman of Geopolitical Futures, tells Axios. “You have a problem with the largest economy in Europe not really being in control of its own economy. So in that sense it’s the most dangerous country in Europe because it’s the most important country and incredibly vulnerable.”

LATAM

American Airlines suspends flights to Venezuela amid unrest

American Airlines on Friday suspended flights to and from Venezuela amid unrest, further isolating the South American country. American’s pilot union earlier on Friday said it told its members to refuse any trips to the country after the State Department told U.S. citizens to leave the country. It also pulled its diplomats from Venezuela.

Most U.S. airlines already halted service to Venezuela amid political and economic turmoil there. American was the last major U.S. airline to fly to Venezuela and sells flights from Miami to Caracas and to Maracaibo. The move threatens to further isolate the South American nation that is mired in a humanitarian crisis.

“The safety and security of our team members and customers is always number one and American will not operate to countries we don’t consider safe,” American said in a statement.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro cut ties with the U.S. in January after Washington recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country’s president. More than 50 other countries have recognized Guaido as the country’s president.

Finance

Startups

Amazon is introducing private investors to high-risk start-ups in a new pilot program

Amazon is testing a new way to bolster its relationship with start-ups and possibly bring in more capital to the ecosystem. The fledgling effort, known as the Amazon Web Services Pro-Rata Program, is designed to link private investors with companies that use AWS, as well as venture funds whose portfolios are filled with potential cloud customers. Amazon is not investing money through the program.

The Pro-Rata program is being run by Brad Holden, a former partner at TomorrowVentures (founded by ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt), and Jason Hunt, who are both part of AWS’s business development team focused on angel and seed relationships, according to an email they sent to investors in January.

“The Pro-Rata Program is a new pilot intended to connect family offices and venture capitalists for specific investment opportunities from the AWS ecosystem,” according to the email, which was viewed by CNBC. “Pro rata” refers to the rights investors have to put money in subsequent rounds.

AWS has built a $25 billion enterprise tech behemoth by luring big companies and government agencies onto its cloud, and it now accounts for the bulk of Amazon’s profit. Ever since getting off the ground over a decade ago by providing computing and storage services for start-ups, AWS has counted on young and emerging companies for a big part of its success. Start-ups bring innovation to the platform and some, like Lyft, Pinterest and Slack, grow up to be large enterprises with hefty technology budgets.

Services

Cannabis

Facebook And Whole Foods Offer New Indicators Of Welcome Cannabis Trends

We’re seeing a boom in cross-industry trends where major corporate and investment players are starting to enter the cannabis sector or at least signal willingness to do so. These trends are proving so strong that companies are starting to think it’s important to get in the game or risk being left behind later. That’s why major brands are either dipping a toe into the water or laying the groundwork for a cannonball-level splash when the Green Rush finally breaks.

We saw the start of this in 2017, when companies like Constellation Brands, maker of Corona beer, invested in Canopy Growth Corporation. Last year, they increased their ownership stake to 38 percent, infusing an additional $4 billion in the business. At the time of that second investment, Constellation’s CEO Rob Sands said, “This could potentially be one of the most significant global growth opportunities for the next decade.”

Molson Coors Brewing Co. announced it was exploring the possibility of developing non-alcoholic cannabis-infused beverages in Canada once legalization was underway. Small craft brewers in states where cannabis is legal have also been making inroads.

And last month, Barneys New York brought cannabis into the world of high-end luxury goods when it announced they would open a boutique focused on selling luxury accessories to cannabis aficionados.

Esports

Esports ad revenue will exceed $200M by 2020, eMarketer says

Esports ad revenue is expected to exceed $200 million by 2020, according to eMarketer’s first forecast for esports and gaming revenue, which was shared with Marketing Dive. This year, esports U.S. digital ad revenue will increase 25% to $178.1 million.

In 2019, the number of people in the U.S. who will watch an esports event at least once a month will reach 30.3 million, an 18% increase over last year. Esports viewership is expected to grow more than 50% through 2023, when it will hit 46.2 million. YouTube and Twitch are the leading platforms for esports viewing.

Esports refers to organized gaming competitions among professional players and teams. Multiple revenue streams are connected to esports, including advertising, sponsorships, media rights, ticket sales to live events and merchandising.

Manufacturing & Logistics

Firearms

Remington and Other Gun Companies Lose Major Ruling Over Liability

The Connecticut Supreme Court dealt a major blow to the firearms industry on Thursday, clearing the way for a lawsuit against the companies that manufactured and sold the semiautomatic rifle used by the gunman in the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

The lawsuit mounted a direct challenge to the immunity that Congress granted gun companies to shield them from litigation when their weapons are used in a crime. The ruling allows the case, brought by victims’ families, to maneuver around the federal shield, creating a potential opening to bring claims to trial and hold the companies, including Remington, which made the rifle, liable for the attack.

The decision represents a significant development in the long-running battle between gun control advocates and the gun lobby. And it stands to have wider ramifications, experts said, by charting a possible legal road map for victims’ relatives and survivors from other mass shootings who want to sue gun companies.

Beyond the lawsuit against the gun companies, victims’ families have also had successes recently in lawsuits against Alex Jones, the far-right provocateur, who spread bogus claims about the shooting, including that the families were actors involved in a wider plot to confiscate firearms.

Technology

3DP

Nanofabrica commercializes micron resolution additive manufacturing technology

Nanofabrica, a Tel Aviv-based developer of precision additive manufacturing technologies, has launched its micron-level resolution industrial 3D printers, the Workshop System and the Industrial System. Both platforms integrate the company’s patented process which is based on a Digital Light Processing (DLP) engine, and Adaptive Optics (AO), a technology used to improve image distortions in optical devices such as telescopes.

This technology is designed to produce parts with micron and sub-micron levels of resolution and surface finishes within the medical, automotive, aerospace, optics, and semiconductor sectors. Jon Donner, CEO of Nanofabrica, said: “There is an inexorable shift towards miniaturization, with many applications demanding extremely exacting levels of micron and sub-micron precision on macro and micro parts [and] there is huge potential for an AM platform that can service this trend.”

As a fairly new enterprise, Nanofabrica, founded in 2016, sought to be the first “mover” in the micro AM space for production. Now, with the commercialization of its technology, the company aims to help designers and manufacturers to further reap the benefits of additive manufacturing.

AgTech

Startup sows seeds of farm revolution with drones and AI

Back in 2009 Justin Gong and a group of friends he calls “The Geeks” designed their first drone. For the 21-year-old Chinese business student, the prototype was a means to an end. As a freelance cameraman and passionate nature lover, he could use the technology to capture unique shots of animal migration.

A decade later, the 13 geeks have multiplied and today Gong is the vice president and co-founder of XAG, a Chinese dronemaker employing 1,400 people, which aims to bring technology to the world’s farmers.

“China has been a pioneer in areas like e-wallet and consumer tech, but in terms of agricultural technology, there is little development over the past decades,” said Gong.

XAG, which has raised $100 million from outside investors since 2014, is about to embark on a new round of fundraising. Gong is making it his mission to tell the world about the potential for technology in one of the world’s oldest industries. With rural populations declining, and those left behind aging, the scope for technology to help maintain and improve productivity is immense, he argues. Even better, says the nature lover, the use of drones will help to reduce pollution of the countryside by cutting the use of pesticides.

Data Collection

Hedge funds are watching a key lawsuit involving LinkedIn to see if they can spend billions on web-scraped data

The internet is crawling with bots, and many of them belong to hedge funds. But a lawsuit involving LinkedIn could change what funds are legally allowed to collect.

A report from Opimas found that one out of every 20 website visits in 2018 came from a fund or sell-side research firm that was scraping the page for information. Hedge funds have built the tremendous amount of data they scrape into their systems and are expected to spend nearly $2 billion on web scraping alone in 2020, a sliver of the overall money that is pouring into the exploding alternative-data scene. But the pedal-to-the-metal approach of scaling up and building out web-scraping units by hedge funds may be for naught as the courts try to create a framework for what is allowed on the web.

In August 2017, a judge in the Northern District of California ruled that public LinkedIn pages could be scraped by hiQ, a company that used the data trawled by its bots to inform employers about their employees’ web activity, even though LinkedIn’s terms of use forbade the use of any web-scraping bot.

The case, which is in the appeals process in the 9th District, is being watched by lawyers and funds closely to determine what the future will be for an increasingly important part of hedge funds’ investment process.

New Materials

Lightweight Metal Foams Become Bone Hard and Explosion Proof After Being Nanocoated

Strong enough not only for use in impact protection systems in cars, but able to absorb the shock waves produced by a detonation. Those are just some of the properties shown by the metallic foams developed by materials scientists Stefan Diebels and Anne Jung at Saarland University. Their super lightweight and extremely strong metal foams can be customized for a wide range of applications.

The inspiration for the new foam system came from nature: bones. Using a patented coating process, the Saarbrücken team is able to manufacture highly stable, porous metallic foams that can be used, for example, in lightweight construction projects. The initial lattice substrate is either an aluminium or polymer foam, not dissimilar to a kitchen sponge.

Bones are one of nature’s many ingenious developments. They are strong and stable and can cope with loads almost as well as steel. But despite their strength, they are light enough to be easily moved by humans and animals. The secret lies in the combination of a hard exterior shell that encases a porous lattice-like network of bone tissue in the interior of the bone. This structure saves on material and reduces weight. Metal foams are able to mimic these naturally occurring bone structures