« All Events

  • This event has passed.

GMALL Presents – Can SILK Help Save the Planet?

August 12, 2025 @ 5:30 pm - 7:00 pm

GMALL Presents – Can SILK Help Save the Planet?
Tuesday, August 12 from 5:30 – 7:00pm at Burr and Burton Academy, Riley Center for the Arts

Green Mountain Academy for Lifelong Learning (GMALL) welcomes Tufts University Professor Fiorenzo Omenetto to talk about silk as a viable alternative to plastics.
 
Remember “There’s a great future in plastics” in The Graduate? Well, decades later we are drowning in it. What if instead we made stuff out of materials produced by nature, that would be truly sustainable?

Meet Fio Omenetto and SILK – yes, silk!

The stuff fashionistas wear. But Fio and his SILKLAB at Tufts University use it to make the planet a better place. A few examples of dozens of proven applications:
o Building silk drones that sniff viruses in the air;
o Creating protein glitter that reflects sunlight to efficiently cool buildings;
o Coating fruit and vegetables to quadruple shelf life;
o Producing shirts that “read” body chemistry for physical and mental triage.

Join us on August 12 at 5:30 pm at Burr and Burton Academy for a hands-on demonstration of how silk can change how the world works!

Details

Venue