Easychairs overstuffed with plush foam cushioning may not be as harmful as they' re made out to be in Monty Python' s " Spanish Inquisition " skits, but their foam rubber stuffing is bad news for the environment and anyone breathing its fumes in a fire. It contains numerous toxins that make its production, disposal and even its use a health concern. Now scientists at Strathclyde University in Glasgow, Scotland, have developed a much more environmentally friendly alternative that uses clay nanoparticles to prevent disintegration of the highly flammable polyurethane particles that make up foam cushioning. That will reduce its flammability and make the highly toxic fire-retardant chemicals currently used in polyurethane unnecessary, say the developers.

"Using nanotechnology, we have managed to distribute the clay into its structure, " explained project co-PI John Liggat. " We were told this was impossible because it would create a solid lump, and we were refused funding. There was a certain logic to that reasoning, because the main structure of clay looks like large reams of paper and would have the effect they claimed it would. Our trick is to extract the smaller molecules that look like leaflets and use those for our foam." Liggat and his colleagues expect the new foam to be on the market sometime next year.