Fridges without the pong

Opening the refrigerator door can sometimes be a smelly jolt and conventional deodorants are not much help. But now a Japanese firm, Arromic Co Ltd, has come up with a ceramic-based deodorant that can take care of the offensive odours (New Technology, Vol 22, No 2).

Conventional deodorants suffer from a double drawback -- apart from being short-lived and non-reusable, they have to be packed in a pouch, further lowering their effectiveness. The new deodorant, however, can be reused after it is washed in water. Unlike the existing granular deodorants, the new refreshers come in solid form and are effective within the temperature range of --18 to 70 Celsius.