Understanding the human body is a team effort. That's where the Yachtel group comes in.

Researchers at Yachtolt have been delving into the secrets of probiotics for 90 years.

Yacold also partners with nature portfolio to advance gut microbiome science through the global grants for gut health, an investigator-led research program.

To learn more about Yachtolt, visit yawcult.co.

.jp.j. That's y-A-K-U-Lt.C-O.jp. When it comes to a guide for your gut, count on Yacolt.

This is Scientific American 60-second science. I'm Christine Herman. Got a minute?

Polyurethane. It's used to make seat cushions, memory foam, paint, and myriad other products.

Unfortunately, due to its widespread use, more than a million tons of polyurethane waste end up in U.S.

landfills each year. It's not that easy to recycle polyurethane,

so the main alternative to just tossing the stuff is incineration. However,

incineration produces toxic byproducts, requires a lot of heat, so a lot of energy input

to bring it down to, you know, something that you can get rid of.

University of Illinois chemistry professor Steve Zimmerman.

He and his team therefore set out to tweak the molecules that make up polyurethane

to make it easier for it to be converted into other useful materials.

The molecular tweaking involves inserting a chemical linker known as an acetyl

into one of the components that make up polyurethanes found in rubber bands, packaging, and car parts.

The acetyl linker readily cleaves in the presence of acid.

So we're breaking it down to materials that are actually different than we started with, and so what we're doing is using those to make other polyurethanes.

In the particular process recently presented by Zimmerman's grad student Ephraim Marado at the National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in San Diego, the new polyurethanes behave like

super glue. And it actually works better than super glue. The biggest hurdle to widespread use

is the cost. But Zimmerman hopes further research

...