A l'UM la science [S03-ep28] : A new recyclable material made in UM

This week in A l'UM la science Sylvain Caillol, researcher at the Charles Gerhardt Institute in Montpelliertells us about a new material that could revolutionize the plastics industry. In the second half of the show, we return to Cemipai with Aymeric Neyret, who talks about exotic viruses. Finally, Licem researcher Jean-Louis Respaud presents the Journée du droit du marché conference. A program co-produced with Divergence FM and broadcast every Wednesday at 6pm on 93.9.

And to kick off the week, I've got a little riddle for you. What do a skateboard, a wind turbine blade, some industrial flooring, an airplane or even costume jewelry have in common?

• Common point number 1: they're made of composite plastic. As their name suggests, composite materials are made up of at least two different types of material. In the case of plastics, this is most often, but not exclusively, epoxy resin combined with glass fibers.
• Common point number 2: composite plastics outperform non-composite plastics.
• Common point number 3: Unlike plastics, they cannot be recycled.
• Common point number 4: they're the focus of our guest's attention, and he's taken on a huge challenge. Turn their commonality number 3 into commonality number 5.

Plastics, especially thermosets made from epoxy resins, are now recyclable.

Joining us in the studio is Sylvain Caillol, a researcher at ICGM, the Charles Gerhardt Institute in Montpellier, whose work was published on April 12 in the prestigious journal Science.

In the second half of the show, we return to Cemipai, the Center for the Study of Infectious Diseases and Anti-Infectious Pharmacology, again with Sébastien Lyonnais, accompanied this week by virologist Aymeric Neyret.

Our guest for the last three minutes is Jean-Louis Respaud, lecturer in private law at the Faculty of Law and Political Science, director of the Master 2 in Private Economic Law and researcher at Licem. He is organizing the Journée du droit du marché conference on June 7 from 8:30am to 5:30pm at the Faculty of Law and Political Science.

At UM la science you've got the program, here we go!

Coproduction : Divergence FM / Université de Montpellier
Animation : Lucie Lecherbonnier
Interview : Aline Périault / Lucie Lecherbonnier
Reporting and editing: Lucie Lecherbonnier / Aline Périault
Production : Tom Chevalier / Alice Rollet

Listen to the program "A l'UM la science" on Divergence FM 93.9