I’m obsessed with this chair. The artist takes a flimsy hunk of injection-molded plastic that’s been cost-cut to hell and back, and insists that we look at it with fresh eyes and understand its beauty. And they went about it in the most labor-intensive way I can think of.
Absolutely nothing about this design is convenient to execute in wood. Every piece is curved, most have compound curves. This is artisan craftsmanship: it’s inherently slow, manual, and skilled. Notice, also, that most features of this chair must be thicker and heavier than on the plastic chairs being imitated. Injection-molded chairs can be produced in this shape in a matter of minutes with far less material at very low cost.
If these flowing, organic curves are so beautiful in polished wood, perhaps they are also beautiful in the mass-produced chairs that are far more accessible. Perhaps we should remember to admire designs that succeed enough to become ubiquitous. I don’t know about you, but I’ll never see injection-molded chairs the same way again.
I agree with all of this, but YOU HAVE HIT UPON A FORGOTTEN TRUTH OF PLASTIC CHAIRS!!!!!
The standard one-piece injection molded plastic chair is referred to as a “Monobloc”, literally just describing it as a single piece. The history of this chair is fascinating, and it all starts back in 1946, with the D.C. Simpson Monobloc.
Douglas Colborne Simpson was an architect mostly active in the 40’s and 50’s, designing a lot of classic mid-century style buildings in Vancouver, Canada(1). In 1946, as part of a government project to find new uses for materials developed for WWII, he and engineer James Donahue developed the design you see above, simply called the Monobloc(2). Unfortunately, we don’t know a lot about this chair as it was only ever a prototype, and no modern examples have survived, nor have most of the records surrounding it(3). To my knowledge, we don’t actually know if this was technically injection molded, or crafted some other way. We can’t even be sure if it was technically the inspiration for the designs that followed, but no matter the case it has lent its name to the entire genre.
Plastics technology was simply not what it is today back in the 1940’s. Most people would have had very little plastic in their homes, most likely just a few pieces of Bakelite (the first commercially viable plastic, made from a formaldehyde based resin in a Bakelizer, the best name for any industrial manufacturing equipment ever). Over the following few decades, however, as a wider variety of plastics were both developed and came down in price to the point of commercial viability, the concept of the plastic chair was revisited, and the first folks to revisit it were Helmut Batzner, in 1964, and Joe Colombo, in 1965.
This, is the Bofinger chair, Batzner’s design:
The elements of D.C.Simpson’s Monobloc were pretty alien compared to todays mass-manufactured plastic chairs, but here we start to see some more modern elements come into play. The first thing you probably notice is the front legs, which have that characteristic visible 90 degree bend in them for added rigidity, plus a much more comfortably leaned back and slightly scoop-shaped seat. We also see much more support in the back rest, with broad triangles allowing for a more efficient use of materials without losing back support.
Similar to Simpson, Batzner was not an industrial designer, but an architect, and this chair had a very specific purpose. Batzner and his team designed it as part of a project to build a new theater in Karlsruhe, Germany, which required a large amount of additional seating which could be easily packed away into storage or distributed around the theaters rooms by the staff (4). As such, it was designed to be both lightweight and stackable, so several of them could be moved by one person, and they could be stored compactly. This piece of furniture was a huge hit a the theater, and was so popular that 120,000 units would ultimately be manufactured and sold around the world, with each one taking just 5 minutes to produce (4).
Around the same time, Joe Colombo enters the scene with this:
Colombo was an artist in several mediums who, after taking over his families appliance company in the 50’s, made the shift towards architecture and interior design, and started designing a wide array of trend-setting furniture(5). The chair shown above is known as the Universale (sometimes referred to as the Chair Universal 4867), designed in 1965. This chair differs pretty greatly from the ones that came after it, it many ways it represents a different path that could have been taken, but it’s also very widely referenced as an inspiration for what is broadly considered the origin of the white plastic chair the world over.
Enter: the Fauteuil 300
This is, arguably, the first iteration of the white plastic chair we all know today. Designed by Henry Massonnet in 1972, the Fauteuil 300 and it’s imitators are, collectively, the single most widely used piece of furniture in the entire world(6). Before that, however, it was something else entirely: works of art.
What might be hard to recognize in hindsight is that all of these chairs described so far were not everyday objects. They were on the forefront of modern design, they made use of brand new materials and manufacturing processes, and at the time they were each made, they were slick, stylish, and fairly expensive. Despite the speed at which they could be manufactured, these innovative, high-end chairs rose sharply in cost up through the early 1980’s due to the sheer demand for them. They weren’t cheap spare seating you stuck in the garage, they were placed at dining tables and on fine patios, and they were a wildly popular talking point. That’s not to say their expense justified their artistic value, but rather that their expense and popularity was a product of their status as highly contemporary and boundary-pushing designs.
With the price of plastics declining after the 70’s, the increasing accessibility of injection molding to manufacturers, and the widespread popularity of these designs, copycats proliferated rapidly, and eventually drove the price down. This era, in the 80’s and 90’s, is when these chairs became cheap an ubiquitous, and where they became manufactured the world over.
And here is where we reach this piece, “Plastic chair in wood”, by Maarten Baas, and a piece of the history I’ve left out so far. The Monobloc was designed to be made out of wood. Like the the other chairs designed by Joe Colombo, like the chairs that predated the Simpson, the Monobloc was designed with the intention of using laminated plywood, but as the artists and designers behind them began to experiment with new materials they fell in love with the idea of making them from plastic, and so they did. They redesigned and redesigned until they made something that would be impossible to make in wood at a price most people could afford, but which could be made from plastic in mere minutes. The organic curves and thin profiles would take so much time, so much waste material, so much skill and effort to create if made of wood that they could never be furniture, they could only be art. Baas’ chair is a perfect, beautiful reflection of that.
That, in brief, is the history of the design of the white plastic Monobloc chair, but it’s not all there is to know. In fact, it’s kind of just the start. I’ve linked my sources below, but I would strongly recommend checking out the German documentary Monobloc, by Hauke Wendler. It goes over the history, but it’s far more interested with what the Monobloc means, and what it’s place is in our world today. The impact it’s made, the better and the worse, and what it says about us. It’s fascinating, and well worth your time.
The emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has fundamentally transformed global public health paradigms. As we navigate the endemic phase of COVID-19, understanding the complex dynamics of immunity against continuously evolving viral variants remains critical for maintaining population-level protection and informing evidence-based vaccination policies [1].
SARS-CoV-2 immunity can be acquired through three distinct pathways: vaccine-induced immunity, natural infection-induced immunity, and hybrid immunity resulting from both vaccination and infection [2]. Each pathway confers unique protective characteristics with varying effectiveness, breadth, and durability. Vaccine-induced immunity has proven highly effective in reducing COVID-19 severity, hospitalizations, and deaths across diverse populations [[3], [4], [5], [6], [7]]. However, immune waning and viral evolution continuously reshape the protective landscape, necessitating updated vaccination strategies [[8], [9]].
Hybrid immunity, resulting from both vaccination and natural infection, typically provides the most robust and durable protection [[10], [11], [12]]. However, emerging evidence suggests that the temporal sequence of these immune exposures critically determines the ultimate protective benefit, with vaccination-first approaches showing superior outcomes compared to infection-first scenarios [[13], [14], [15]].
In Hong Kong, the COVID-19 Vaccination Programme launched on February 26, 2021. Initially, the program offered two primary vaccine options: BNT162b2, an mRNA-based vaccine developed by Pfizer-BioNTech, and CoronaVac (Sinovac Biotech), an inactivated virus vaccine. By the time of this analysis (November 2022), a bivalent mRNA vaccine (Bivalent Omicron BA.4/BA.5 BNT162b2) was also available. While the original formulations demonstrated substantial initial effectiveness, the emergence of immune-evasive variants, particularly the Omicron lineage and its subvariants, has challenged the durability and breadth of protection [[16], [17], [18]].
The COVID-19 pandemic has generated unprecedented real-world data on vaccination effectiveness, immune responses, and optimal strategies for population protection against emerging respiratory pathogens. The experience with SARS-CoV-2 variants, particularly the Omicron lineage, has provided valuable insights for developing evidence-based vaccination strategies that could inform rapid response approaches for future pandemic threats. The Omicron subvariants, particularly BA.4/5, have demonstrated enhanced transmissibility and partial immune escape, leading to increased breakthrough infection rates even among vaccinated populations [19].
The Omicron BA.4/5 experience offers an opportunity to address fundamental questions relevant to future pandemic preparedness: How effective are heterologous vaccination strategies when primary vaccines lose effectiveness against new variants? What is the real-world performance of variant-adapted vaccines compared to original formulations?
Vaccination timing has particular public health significance. Some individuals and communities have advocated for natural immunity strategies involving intentional exposure to infection. Such approaches assume that infection-acquired immunity provides equal or superior protection compared to vaccination, an assumption requiring rigorous scientific evaluation. Understanding the comparative effectiveness of vaccination-first versus infection-first pathways is essential for evidence-based public health messaging and policy development [20].
In this study, we define heterologous vaccination as switching between different vaccine platform types (e.g., from inactivated whole-virus vaccines to mRNA vaccines), as distinct from switching between different manufacturers of the same vaccine platform (e.g., between different mRNA vaccines). This distinction is critical because immune responses differ substantially across vaccine platforms due to differences in antigen presentation, adjuvant systems, and mechanisms of immune activation.
This study aims to extract actionable insights from Hong Kong's BA.4/5 experience that could inform future pandemic vaccination strategies. Our analysis leveraged Hong Kong's unique position as a well-defined population with universal healthcare access, comprehensive testing infrastructure, and detailed vaccination records—creating an ideal setting for generating pandemic preparedness insights. We focus specifically on individuals with waned immunity, those whose last vaccination or infection occurred more than six months prior, to determine optimal booster strategies for this vulnerable population. Through comprehensive analysis of cohorts stratified by primary vaccination series, booster type, prior infection history, and critically, the temporal sequence of vaccination and infection events, we provide crucial evidence to inform public health policies.
Our analysis investigates whether switching vaccine types or using variant-adapted boosters offers superior protection, how the temporal sequence of vaccination and infection influences subsequent immune responses, and whether vaccination before infection provides measurably better protection than infection-first scenarios. The demonstrated benefits of heterologous boosting and vaccination timing are essential for refining future vaccination campaigns to ensure sustained population-level protection while providing strong evidence to support early vaccination strategies over approaches that rely on or tolerate initial infection as a pathway to immunity.
Over 2,200 people attended the annual Christmas party organised by the Hursti foundation, a Helsinki-based charity.
The event offers Christmas food and festive-related performances for the capital's homeless, impoverished and lonely. Attendees also receive a bag of groceries to take home from the event.
Despite the huge number of attendees, organisers had to turn about 100 people away as there was no more room at the capital's Expo and Convention Centre (Messukeskus).
"The popularity of the event has surprised all of us," the foundation's chair Heikki Hursti told Yle in an emotional interview.
"Unfortunately, we had to turn people away at the door," he added, noting further that the attendance demonstrates that many people in Finland are living on the margins of society.
Hundreds of people queued up before the doors opened at 11am. Image: Jorma Vihtonen / Yle
"This shows that people are in need. There is emptiness, loneliness, and people's lives are in such a state that they need closeness and love," Hursti said.
A report by Statistics Finland published earlier this year showed that nearly one million people were at risk of poverty or social exclusion.
Pensioner Eija Krusi told Yle she has attended the Hursti event several times, as she receives a state pension as well as a supplementary benefit from Kela intended to support low-income elderly people.
"It’s not enough for anything. I live alone and every day I try to get by," Krusi said, but added her gratitude that the Hursti event is held every year.
"This is just wonderful, that you can get something like this here and that Hursti’s volunteer work exists. You just have to enjoy it," she said.
Vantaa resident Mikko Saastamoinen agreed, telling Yle that he immediately found people to chat with at the table he was sitting.
"It’s lonely at home, so it’s good to get out at Christmas. You get to see people," he said. "The situation in Finland is what it is right now, and everything is being tightened. That’s why people come here."
Hursti's Christmas party has been held at the Expo Centre since 2015. The foundation, which was established in the 1960s, operates year-round by distributing food aid and clothing to those in need.
Organisers plan to increase the capacity next year.
Researchers in South Korea have developed a new eco-friendly recycling process that recovers more than 95 percent of nickel and cobalt from old EV batteries with almost perfect purity.
The novel recycling technique was developed by scientists at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST). The team behind the novel method believes that it could reshape the global lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery industry.
In contrast to conventional wet recycling processes, the technology relies on a selective electrochemical separation that utilizes a multifunctional special solvent. It also eliminates complex chemical treatments and reduces the production of harmful wastewater.
“By overcoming the long-standing trade-off between purity and recovery rate in electrochemical separation, our method offers a sustainable and cost-effective solution,” Kwiyong Kim, PhD, a professor at the institute’s Department of Civil, Urban and Earth Environmental Engineering, explained.
Often referred to as “urban mines” due to their abundance of critical metals such as nickel (Ni), cobalt (Co) and manganese (Mn), Li-ion waste batteries have become a pivotal focus in the global push for resource recovery.
However, the presence of multiple metals presents a significant challenge to efficient separation. Traditional methods rely on strong acids, such as sulfuric acid, as well as multi-step chemical extractions to separate them.
Still, these methods are costly, energy-intensive and generate large volumes of hazardous wastewater and waste. Now, to tackle the challenge, UNIST scientists turned to a special type of solvent called a deep eutectic solvent (DES).
Schematic representation illustrating the key findings of the study. Credit: UNIST
For the study, the scientists used a solvent called ethaline, which is composed of ethylene glycol and chloride ions. They found that ethylene glycol, a colorless, odorless liquid commonly used in antifreeze, selectively binds to nickel ions.
Chloride ions stabilized cobalt by forming tetrachlorocobaltate complexes. The research showed that the differential coordination shifted the metals’ reduction voltages apart.
This selective coordination enabled nickel to be deposited at –0.45 volts (V) and cobalt at –0.9 volts. The process established a distinct electrochemical window that allowed the two metals to be efficiently and precisely separated.
Results showed that the team maintained a stable voltage difference between the two metals, even under high-temperature conditions of 185 degrees Fahrenheit (85 degrees Celsius), where metal coordination typically changes.
This resulted in a Ni-Co separation factor greater than 3,000 and more than 97 percent nickel recovery from synthetic mixtures.
When applied to real-world nickel–cobalt–manganese (NCM) battery leachates, the method achieved 99.1 percent purity for nickel and 98.8 percent for cobalt, while maintaining recovery rates above 95 percent.
The method addresses the limitations of conventional wet recycling processes. Credit: UNIST
Electrodeposition is another significant advantage of the method. In this process, in which a metal coating forms on a solid surface, chlorine naturally develops in the solvent.
This further refines the nickel without the need for additional treatment steps. The chlorine-containing solution can be safely neutralized and reused, reducing both environmental impact and operational costs.
“It minimizes chemical use and wastewater, contributing to a more sustainable battery recycling ecosystem,” Kim revealed in a press release. The research was supported by the Ministry of Education, the National Research Foundation of Korea and UNIST.
The study has been published in the journal Energy Storage Materials.
Based in Skopje, North Macedonia. Her work has appeared in Daily Mail, Mirror, Daily Star, Yahoo, NationalWorld, Newsweek, Press Gazette and others. She covers stories on batteries, wind energy, sustainable shipping and new discoveries. When she's not chasing the next big science story, she's traveling, exploring new cultures, or enjoying good food with even better wine.
TORONTO – As CBS News under Bari Weiss leads the charge of American media kowtowing to the Trump administration by deleting a story about the torture of migrants, there is one thing they didn’t count on: a Canadian media that is incompetent enough to accidentally run the story anyway.
“Between firing people who criticise Trump or refusing to acknowledge his mental decline, it’s clear that the people at the top of U.S. media are complicit in whitewashing the crimes of the Trump regime,” said media watchdog Kurt Oyj. “By contrast the people in charge of Canadian media are just, like, pretty checked out.”
“And sometimes people who truly don’t care end up doing the right thing. Totally by accident of course.”
The story in question is a searing expose on the abuse suffered by Migrants who were deported to an El Salavadorian prison. It was killed by Weiss at the last minute due to a lack of administration response. This sets a dangerous precedent that Trump officials can kill a story just by refusing to comment. But fortunately a programmer at Global News, which almost exclusively re-airs 60 Minutes and other American shows in lieu of doing any Canadian programming, just ignored the journalism ethics debate altogether and uploaded it to Global’s website.
“The person who did this is either an ardent believer in the fight for an independent media, free of political influence, or just someone kinda bad at their job. Since we’re talking about Canadian media here, I know what I’m betting on,” added Oyj.
In a statement, the heads of news organizations at CTV, CBC and Rogers came out in support of Global’s actions, and said if there are any other ways to stand up to fascism by doing light screw-ups, Canadian media is ready to act.
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Schematic representation illustrating the key findings of the study.
The method addresses the limitations of conventional wet recycling processes.