FANTASTIC PLASTIC

There are still untapped energy sources in nature.

Researchers at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology and Shikoku Electric Power Co. are exploring the energy potential of soil microbes, The Mainichi reports.

The Japanese researchers have developed microbial fuel cells, devices that generate electricity using soil bacteria that release electrons as they consume organic materials, according to The Mainichi.

Each box filled with soil embedded with electrodes was buried at a depth of about 30 centimeters. It will store the generated electricity until it is sufficient to be used.

Keisuke Matsumura, a specially appointed assistant professor at the university in the Japanese capital, said that soil microbes “can become an alternative power source to solar power and dry cells,” according to The Mainichi.

They buried a dozen such devices in citrus fields in Ehime Prefecture in western Japan to power agricultural sensors and cameras.

Meanwhile, an international team of scientists, including Japanese, has developed an alternative plastic to address marine pollution.

Their so-called supramolecular plastic is made up of monomers used in food additives and those created in organic materials, Kyodo News reports, citing an article on the invention published in the United States academic journal “Science.”

Takuzo Aida, a group director of the institute’s Center for Emergent Matter Science, explained that “saltwater causes the material to quickly dissociate into the former monomers and further disintegrate due to bacteria within the ocean or soil,” according to Kyodo News.

Being soluble in seawater, the supramolecular plastic won’t accumulate in the oceans, unlike conventional plastic which are polluting the seas because they do not disintegrate naturally.