from Discovery News
Da Vinci Invented Natural Plastics
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If plastics is defined as a substance making up of a network of long-chain polymers with repeating units of monomers, then drying oils and other natural resins / glue could also rightly be considered a plastics. The use of these natural materials must surely predate the Renaissance. This makes the "discovery" of Da Vinci's recipes less stunning - but it does not detract from the beauty of the resultant substances.