Posts tagged synthbio

Biotech firm creates fake rhino horn to reduce poaching

synthbio, fabbing, 3d priting, biotech, rhino, superstition, marketing

Pembient, based in San Francisco uses keratin – a type of fibrous protein – and rhino DNA to produce a dried powder which is then 3D printed into synthetic rhino horns which is genetically and spectrographically similar to original rhino horns.The company plans to release a beer brewed with the synthetic horn later this year in the Chinese market. The Chinese and Vietnamese rhino horn craze has caused an unprecedented surge in rhino poaching throughout Africa and Asia bringing the animal to the brink of extinction. In South Africa, home to 80 percent of Africa’s rhino population, 1,215 rhinos were killed in 2014.

http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/environment/biotech-firm-creates-fake-rhino-horn-to-help-save-real-rhinos/article/436325