industryterm:cosmetic products

  • Eternity Now | GDI
    https://www.gdi.ch/en/events/eternity-now

    Les vendeurs savent attirer l’attention du public. Leur principale fausse promesse fait croire aux gens qu’il est possible de changer sa vie et sa propre personne par délégation. On paie pour un produit, on vote pour un parti et le tour est joué, la récompense suit immédiatement. Cette attitude idéologique est parfiatement décrite dans cette invitation d’un institut de marketing suisse. Elle contribue beaucoup à la dépolitisation des membres des classes moyennes qui ne touchent pas encore le fond. Ceux qui n’ont plus honte d’afficher leur désarroi s’habillent en gilet jaune.

    Health, well-being, and an attractive body are highly valued by consumers. The global market for cosmetic products is expected to reach a market value of over USD 800 billion by 2023. Generation Z is born into a world of fitness, organic nutrition, and social media driving the image of beauty; their aim is to stay fit for the continuous job and partner market.

    At the same time, that consumer wants a balanced life. This is demonstrated by high expenditure on beauty products, wellness cults, and healthier food. Tracking technologies and smart mirrors help consumers stay on their personal course. What appears today to be high-tech will soon be considered the standard.

    Consumers expect every product and service to help them improve their well-being. This spurs competition beyond traditional categories such as health, beauty and food. Soon, every retailer or service provider will be judged by their contribution to individual well-being, which will be considered more comprehensively; in the future, it will be measured in a personalised way, in everyday life, using increased technology.

    #it_has_begun #fétichisme_de_la_marchandise #singularité #prothèses #gilets_jaunes

  • Over 1,000 years old, drought resistant and unique - miracle plants in the Namib desert | Science | DW | 02.11.2017
    http://www.dw.com/en/over-1000-years-old-drought-resistant-and-unique-miracle-plants-in-the-namib-desert/a-39952494

    Not as famous as #welwitschia, but biologically impressive nevertheless, is the #nara plant (Acanthosicyos horridus).

    It is a leafless, spiky thicket that grows only in the Namib #Desert. By forgoing leaves, it prevents water loss. Instead, it conducts its photosynthesis directly through its green stems and spines.

    The plant also absorbs moisture from fog directly through its stems.
    “The more time I spend with it, the more it reminds me of an intelligent plant,” says Monja Gerber, who’s doing her master’s thesis on the nara. “It can actually manipulate its environment to better suit itself.”

    Nara plants grow on top of sand dunes in the middle of the desert. The special thing about that, though, is that the sand dunes weren’t there previously. The plant constructed them.

    This is how it works: Nara plants growing on the ground accumulate sand around them, blown in by the wind. The lower part of the plant, which is covered in sand, dies off and provides nutrients for the rest of the plant. New plant parts then grow on top of the old one. The nara plant gradually gains height as a result, accumulating even more sand.

    In this manner, the plants grow up to 3 meters high.

    What really makes the nara so special, though, is its #fruit.

    Female nara plants produce tasty orange-yellow colored melons, which grow as big as ostrich eggs.

    As Monja Gerber puts it: “A melon in the desert is not normal.”

    The fruits are not only a water-rich food source for animals around, but also for humans.

    The #Topnaar people - an ethnic group native to Namibia that lives in the Namib Desert - harvest those melons seasonally.

    They eat the flesh but also sell the seeds, which can be used to produce cosmetic products due to their high omega oil content.

    “The Topnaar people depend on the nara plant as a source of income to sustain their livelihood,” Monja says.

    She’s part of a project team that’s trying to cultivate the nara on a larger scale to help the struggling Topnaar communities.

    Nara cultivation isn’t possible - yet. As soon as you try to establish a germinated nara seedling, it just dies off. Nobody knows why, Monja says.
    Maybe the plant just wants to decide on its own where it wants to grow.

    In any case, desert plants like the welwitschia and nara are highly adjusted to their environment.

    They only grow in certain parts of the Namib desert - and that’s it.

  • Tiny plastic timebomb - the pollutants in our cosmetics
    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/exclusive-tiny-plastic-timebomb--the-pollutants-in-our-cosmetics-9391

    Millions of people are unwittingly pouring hundreds of tons of tiny plastic beads down the drain. These can persist in the environment for more than 100 years, and have been found to contaminate a wide variety of freshwater and marine wildlife, The Independent on Sunday can reveal.

    Few consumers realise that many cosmetic products, such as facial scrubs, toothpastes and shower gels, now contain many thousands of microplastic beads which have been deliberately added by the manufacturers of more than 100 consumer products over the past two decades.

    #environnement #pollution