■Nathan Shiga: December 15

Suppose a glass cup breaks up, you would have no other way but to throw it away, would you? What if the broken glass cup should “fix by itself”? You would keep on using it, wouldn’t you?

Well, the story is not that simple but the idea of a glassy substance fixing itself is well and simple. A group of researchers at Tokyo University has actually developed a self-fixing glass and revealed its identity, December 15.

Professor Takuzo Kashiwada of Tokyo University, a doctoral graduate student Yu Yanagisawa, etc. were amid a process of developing new-generation adhesives when they chanced to find a rough-textured substance with a self-repair function to return to the original state.

The group identified the substance as Polyetherthio carbamide. Broken glass pieces made of this substance are glued up firm by pressing them against one another for several seconds – back to the original strength in several hours.

Certain gummy substances are known to have that function but this is the first time a solid material like glass found to have such a function.

Yanagisawa-san comments:

“I was half incredulous of the discovery. We did repeated experiments to prove its authenticity.

“I think this discovery will ply open an entirely new cycle of thinking: not throwing away broken glasses.”

Sure thing – it’s quite an idea to “save broken glasses” not in terms of economy but of ecology and environmental preservation.

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