What do you do with broken glass? Japanese researchers say they invented a type that you don't have to throw away. All you need to do is press.
This is the world's first self-healing glass. A group at the University of Tokyo has discovered it can be fixed by pressing shards together for 20 to 30 seconds. Several hours later, the glass even regains its original hardness.
(Yu Yanagisawa / Graduate student, University of Tokyo)
"I hope the repairable glass will end the cycle of making things, breaking them, and throwing them away, and lead to a more eco-friendly approach."
The researchers say they accidentally stumbled across the material when they were working on developing new adhesives.
◆stumbled across (偶然に)見つける、出くわす
◆epic 接着剤