Russia: Pause in Ukraine talks due to Kyiv
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump have not ruled out the possibilit...
Japanese researchers have unveiled a new plastic that fully dissolves in seawater within hours, offering a promising solution to the escalating crisis of ocean pollution and microplastics.
A research team in Japan has developed a breakthrough plastic that disintegrates in seawater in as little as two to three hours, potentially revolutionizing the fight against marine pollution. The innovation, co-developed by the University of Tokyo and Japan’s premier research institute RIKEN, retains the strength of conventional petroleum-based plastics but vanishes in saltwater without leaving harmful residues.
The plastic is made by bonding two ionic monomers to form a salt-based structure that remains strong in normal use but breaks down in saline conditions. Once exposed to seawater, the material dissolves into its original monomers - compounds that can be further digested by naturally occurring bacteria.
“When we place it in an aqueous solution with the same salt concentration as seawater, it dissolves quickly in about two to three hours, depending on its thickness and size,” said lead researcher Takuzo Aida, Group Director at RIKEN’s Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS). “Essentially, it returns to its monomer components.”
In a demonstration at RIKEN's Wako City lab near Tokyo, a small sheet of the plastic visibly disappeared in saltwater after light agitation, underscoring the material’s potential.
Aida emphasized that many so-called biodegradable plastics do not fully decompose and instead contribute to harmful microplastic pollution. In contrast, their newly developed plastic avoids that outcome.
The development comes amid dire warnings from the UN Environment Programme, which predicts plastic pollution will triple by 2040, with 23–37 million metric tons entering oceans annually. In 2020 alone, an estimated 2.7 million metric tons of microplastics - tiny fragments under 5mm - entered the environment, harming both marine ecosystems and human health.
Microplastics have been detected in the human brain, arteries, and various organs, sparking global concern over their long-term impact.
While commercialization plans have yet to be finalized, Aida said there is growing interest, particularly from Japan’s packaging industry, which relies heavily on plastics. "If we can really manage to reduce that, we can expect less environmental damage,” he noted.
Currently, only about 9% of the world’s plastic waste is recycled, highlighting the urgent need for sustainable alternatives.
At least 69 people have died and almost 150 injured following a powerful 6.9-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Cebu City in the central Visayas region of the Philippines, officials said, making it one of the country’s deadliest disasters this year.
A tsunami threat was issued in Chile after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck the Drake Passage on Friday. The epicenter was located 135 miles south of Puerto Williams on the north coast of Navarino Island.
The war in Ukraine has reached a strategic impasse, and it seems that the conflict will not be solved by military means. This creates a path toward one of two alternatives: either a “frozen” phase that can last indefinitely or a quest for a durable political regulation.
A shooting in Nice, southeastern France, left two people dead and five injured on Friday, authorities said.
Snapchat will start charging users who store more than 5GB of photos and videos in its Memories feature, prompting backlash from long-time users.
A general strike and mass demonstrations paralysed the southern Tunisian city of Gabes on Tuesday, as tens of thousands of people demanded the closure of a state-run chemical plant blamed for a worsening pollution crisis.
Global investors managing more than $3 trillion in assets have urged governments to halt and reverse deforestation and ecosystem destruction by 2030, according to a joint statement released on Monday ahead of next month’s U.N. climate conference in Brazil.
A team of Argentine paleontologists has uncovered one of the oldest known dinosaurs, a nearly complete skeleton of a long-necked herbivore that roamed Earth 230 million years ago in what is now La Rioja province.
An earthquake of magnitude 6.7 struck Papua province in Indonesia on Thursday, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said.
Five days after historic floods that have killed at least 66 people and damaged 100,000 homes, Mexico is still struggling to provide aid to the worst-affected communities and locate 75 missing individuals, amid growing criticism of the government’s response to the crisis.
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