News In brief
Fishy solution to
making flexsaeens
11fE scales offish could provide an
eco-friendly alternative to plastic
for use in flexible displays :fbr
elec:tmnicdevices.
Flexibility is important for
wearable electronics that need
displays that bend, fold or twist
easily, says Hai-Dong Yu at Nanjing
Tech Univenity in China. Plastic
has been the go-to material for
this, but sustamable, low-cost
alternatives are sought after.
Fish scales account for 3 per cent
of the 70.5 million metric tonnes
offish processed globally each
:year. The scales usually go to
waste, butYuandhis team saw
potential for flexible elec:tronica.
Theyemactedgelatinfrom
scales and used this to create an
extremely thin fi1m of material
Tiny silver nanowhes were
incmporated intD it, to act as
electrodes,alongwithalight-
emittlng material to provide
Space rock Ryugu gives
up secrets of its age
light for the electronic display.
The result was a fl.eDble
display that fully biodegraded
after 24 days in soil.A plastic
display can tam centuries to
break down. "We are excited
aboutboostingthedevelapment
of green. flexible electronics,
whichmaydriveaparadigm
shift In ourdafly life," says YtL
He says that, fD addition to
biodegradability. the fish-scale
films have the advantages of
high tnnspan!ncy. low surface
roughness and low cost. They
can also be easily recycled by
dissoMngthemin wann water
(ACS Nano, doi.org/dp6m).
DlpankarMandalatthe
Institute of Nano Sdence and
Technology in Mohali. India,
says we can expect to see more
"bio-electronics" liketbis in the
nearfu.ture.Alongsidetish scales, !i
other biological materials are :iipmposes, including cellulose .,BOMmtGm.waldmtaullht•
howaldltll.ln.Aprl,hJ...-
H.,... 2-'f llll'Ched- CIDPI*' projedle atU.astwold
-....andnowwehlMtth•first
data an th• cnd8r It I.rt IMlhhl.
1be main pmpasa of this was
to mlllct a plisflne sample ofh
matarlalbeneathhastaraicf.s
surfam. ButMmmhlDARUwa
atKobeUnlvlllitrlnJlpm'land
hls ...... anllvted llftllHof
U. collision to study the cratw
fannatiDn praam.
Wiien the 2-ldlogram proJectll•
smashed Into RJu9u, It blasted
F/MlllSlllld and rodes and lllGWld
a 5-metre-wldlt boulder. n.
1111111tlng cntw-•bout 14.
ll'leb'elwlde mid 2.3 meb'el deep.
W.c. 1111U.iunberand ..
ofaat91Sonastaraidltollltimat
howald-are.Pnlvlaulstudles
Just opening a bottle
releasesmicroplasticsTINY pieces of plastic pollution
are produced just by opening a
bottle or tearing a food wmpper.
Micmplastics are between 0.
ands millimetres in size and are
usually either produced directly,
orformwhenlargeplastlcdebris
breaks up. Weknowthatmillions
of tonnes of miaoplastics get into
theenvironmentandcanhann
marine life. Miaoplastics are also
found in food, although the effectbeingexploredforsimilar21~fromcottonfibresandsilkprotejn .. 1·.;.~~~~~~~
from silkworms. JJqall.iftlPOGl ~ Itof ..,...(plcturecl)da11•1ec1a.t
ltwaseltherlbout9 million,...
old or lbout 160 millon)'alS old,
dlplndlng on hawmudlthellzeof
aaflrsltmehlsblen llmn.dlP/the
strength of the astmald's surtam.
Fnimablavlngthefanmtfan
of tis naw cm., a.e ......mars
bnlthatundenmtl ltsbllnllatof
bauldm,Ryugu'l..,.. lm'tvwy
........ ltilmontlkeandthln ....
Thay111Ytf*amfinnstlaatlfug
Ill on!r llbollt 9 mlllan)'alS old
(Sduce,do~.
Amraldsllca ..,...form when
...... objeds get smashed .. and
the nmmilllll 1'811Cm11ublte lnta
-.ubbla~lb .. 11 .... 11y
lob of delllts left behind fnMn IUCl'I
asmuh~p,lndwem-.belble
ldlntify atMrGbjacls 1n tt. amrold
IMlltthataMNIDldto..,...lnh
fUhn. Leahc:nmeon human health is still unclear.
ChengFangattheUnive:rsity
ofNewcaatle,Aust:ralia,andhis
teamtestedwhethereveiyday
activities could be part of the
problem. Theyopenedcommon
plastic items such as bags, bottles
and packaging film by twisting the
bottle cap ortearing the bag, for
example,orbycuttlngthemwith
sdason or aknife.
The team used a scale that is
sensitive to weights as low as
1nanogm:mtocoilectandmeasUR
the micropl.astic:s that landed on
m ~.Betweenabouttoand
30 nanograms of microplastic
were released from opening the
plattlcitems-between 14000
and 75,000 bldividual. particlea.
But the team says that the true
amount released is probably
even higher, because many of
theseparticlesarestatic:ally
clwBedandremainin the air.
Mostofthefragmentswere
made of polythene, a widely used
plastic (Nature Scrent!ficReports,
dol.org/dp6z). GegeU