How everyday materials can make innovative new products

VPM | By Manoush Zomorodi and Katie Monteleone

Published May 20, 2022 at 1:24 PM EDT

Updated May 26, 2023

Updated January 6, 2023 at 9:33 AM ET

Part 2 of the TED Radio Hour episode Repair, Repurpose, Reimagine.

Materials scientist Andrew Dent takes us on a tour of the “materials library” where companies can find existing materials to reuse in their products—from chewing gum, to fish scales, to cow manure.

About Andrew Dent

Andrew Dent is the executive vice president of research at Material ConneXion, a materials library and consultancy, and chief material scientist at SANDOW.

Dent has written about materials sciences for multiple outlets, including Fast Company, The Economist and the Financial Times. Before joining Material ConneXion in 2001, he worked for Cambridge University, Rolls Royce, the U.S. Navy, the British Ministry of Defense, NASA, and others.

Dent received his PhD in materials science from the University of Cambridge. He is the co-author of a series of books about Material Innovation.

This segment of the TED Radio Hour was produced by Katie Monteleone and edited by Manoush Zomorodi. You can follow us on Facebook @TEDRadioHour and email us at [email protected].

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Manoush Zomorodi

Manoush Zomorodi is the host of TED Radio Hour. She is a journalist, podcaster and media entrepreneur, and her work reflects her passion for investigating how technology and business are transforming humanity.

Zomorodi is a co-founder of Stable Genius Productions and is the co-host and co-creator of ZigZag, the business podcast about being human. She also created, hosted, and was managing editor of the podcast Note to Self in partnership with WNYC Studios, which was named Best Tech Podcast of 2017 by The Academy of Podcasters.

Prior to her time at WNYC, Zomorodi reported and produced around the world for BBC News and Thomson Reuters, including a few years in Berlin.

She was named one of Fast Company's 100 Most Creative People in Business for 2018 and has received numerous awards for her work, including The Gracie for Best Radio Host in 2014 and 2018. Her book "Bored and Brilliant: How Spacing Out Can Unlock Your Most Creative Self" (2017, St. Martin's Press) and her TED Talk are guides to surviving information overload and the "Attention Economy."

Zomorodi received a bachelor's degree from Georgetown University in English and fine arts. She is half-Persian and half-Swiss but was born in New York City, where she lives with her family.

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