哈佛科学家研究可食用包装

Picture an orange. It's encased* in a biodegradable* shell—the peel can even be eaten, as marmalade* fans can prove. But we humans often package food in plastic, with its environmental and disposal* challenges.

So Harvard scientist David Edwards and colleagues thought, why not take advantage of advances in materials science to mimic nature?

They call their result WikiCells. Edwards recently described the development in a talk at Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering.

Taking note of nature's clever packaging, Edwards and his team created a membrane* made of charged particles of edible* substances bound by electrostatic* forces. The membrane surrounds a liquid, foam or solid food. Then that membrane is surrounded by an edible or biodegradable hard shell.

The researchers are testing WikiCells at Harvard's partner Le Laboratoire in Paris, where people are munching* on containers of ice cream and soup.

The technology is now a bit of a novelty. But the scientists are working on shelf stability and taste to create a variety of consumer products.

Maybe in the future you'll be able to sip some juice, and eat the package. Of course, clam chowder* served in bread bowls is already available in the Harvard area.

encase 包裹

biodegradable 可降解的

marmalade 果酱

disposal 处理

membrane 薄膜

edible 可食用的

electrostatic 静电的

munch 嚼

chowder 杂烩