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Japanese Researchers Make Plastic Out of Water

Posted by timothy on from the what's-kanji-for-boffin? dept.

greenrainbow writes with this excerpt from Inhabit: "The material shown in the picture above is just ice, right? Look again. Elastic water, a new substance invented by researchers at Tokyo University, is a jelly-like substance made up of 95% water along with two grams of clay and a small amount of organic materials. As is, the all-natural substance is perfect for medical procedures, because it's made of water, poses no harm to people, and is perfect for mending tissue. And, if the research team can increase the density of this exciting new substance, it could be used in place of our current oil-based plastics for a host of other things."

30 of 117 comments (clear)

  1. Re:First Post by OrwellianLurker · · Score: 4, Funny

    Great, now dolphins can choke on water too.

    --
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  2. hmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    any one else thinking of ice nine?

    1. Re:hmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Rice Nine.

    2. Re:hmm by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 4, Funny

      Ice and breasts? Sounds like my last girlfriend...

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  3. Whatever... by thestudio_bob · · Score: 3, Funny

    Not impressed. I read somewhere where some guy turned water into wine. Not that's impressive.

    --
    The real Sig captains the Northwestern. This one captains /.
    1. Re:Whatever... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      That's easy, just add sugar and yeast.

    2. Re:Whatever... by Svippy · · Score: 2, Funny

      Not impressed. I read somewhere where some guy turned water into wine. Not that's impressive.

      Aren't you hard to impress?

      Yes, I am calling him out on his typo.

      --
      Clicked pie.
    3. Re:Whatever... by Pikoro · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Yah, homeopathic history. The farther from the original event they are recorded, and the more times it has been passed by word of mouth before it's committed to some more permanent medium, the more believable it is.

      --
      "Freedom in the USA is not the ability to do what you want. It is the ability to stop others from doing what THEY want"
  4. Elastic water by mindbrane · · Score: 4, Funny

    Take this on desert treks. You can stretch it over a much longer time.

    --
    ideopath @ play
  5. Fine... by rmushkatblat · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It would be interesting to know exactly what the other "organic materials" are, and how they made it.

    1. Re:Fine... by snowraver1 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Jello mix

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    2. Re:Fine... by Sir_Lewk · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Ricin. From Castor oil seeds.

      Organic, so it is perfectly harmless. Right? Right??

      --
      "linux is just DOS with a UNIX like syntax" -- Galactic Dominator (944134)
  6. Attention Japanese Science-fidels by Rogerborg · · Score: 4, Informative

    We "invented" this a couple of hundred years ago. We call it "jelly" in civilised lands, or "jello" in the colonies. kthxbye.

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    1. Re:Attention Japanese Science-fidels by Randle_Revar · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Is jello regional like Xerox? Because here in the Northwest most people use "Xerox" only as a proper noun.

      And I don't know about elsewhere, but here people only use "jello" for gelatin if you make it from a powder, and eat it by itself, regardless of brand. If solid gelatin is premade and in a jar and you put it on bread or something, it is always "jelly".

      --
      Climate Progress - Hell and High Water
    2. Re:Attention Japanese Science-fidels by aquila.solo · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I've almost always heard Xerox (ab)used like Google: As a synonym for the act of photocopying, the machine used in that act, the results of that act ("hand me that Xerox over there"), etc. Only context tells you what's intended. As for regional variations, I couldn't tell you. I've lived in four states (Virginia, New Mexico, Nebraska, Utah) and Xerox and Jell-O both seem to be in pretty wide usage. What really seems to vary is the word used to indicate a sweetened, carbonated beverage. That can change between zip codes. I would agree with your last statement. Jelly is usually a condiment, and Jell-O is the stand alone dessert. But it's all the same stuff ultimately: you take powdered gelatin, sugar, fruit juice (if you're doing it right) or artificial flavor (if you're doing it wrong) and boil them in water for a while.

  7. Nice units, blog writers! by NewbieProgrammerMan · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...a jelly-like substance made up of 95% water along with two grams of clay and a small amount of organic materials.

    It also takes 7 minutes and 8% of your time to set after you mix the ingredients together.

    --
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  8. Cool, but.... by thePowerOfGrayskull · · Score: 3, Informative

    Cool, but old news. Haven't really heard anything about it since (other than rehashes of that same info from Oct)

  9. more by circletimessquare · · Score: 5, Funny

    natural

    breast

    implants

    that is all

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    1. Re:more by Shadow+of+Eternity · · Score: 2, Insightful

      And suddenly I think we might actually see this stuff getting mass produced.

      --
      A bullet may have your name on it but splash damage is addressed "To whom it may concern."
    2. Re:more by Hurricane78 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      If they are implanted, they are by definition not natural. Sorry. ^^

      --
      Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
    3. Re:more by dhalgren · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The implants may be natural, but that doesn't mean that the breasts are.

    4. Re:more by bhartman34 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      What matters to the end user (which would be males or lesbians, I suppose) is that the breasts in question feel natural. In terms of actually being natural, if they feel natural and look natural, for all intents and purposes, for the end user, they are natural.

      As with all other prosthetics, what matters is the function and the perception, not the strict reality.

      What you were born with naturally isn't part of your character traits. It's an accident of genetics. The only thing to be embarrassed about with prosthetic breasts is, therefore, poor workmanship.

  10. Re:water + clay + organic = god made a human? by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The story has no details, it's water + clay + some organic stuff.

    That's the Jell-O you dropped on the ground by accident.

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  11. *ANOTHER* Misleading Title..... by IHC+Navistar · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Again, the "Wizards" at SlashDot let ANOTHER crappy and purely misleading title make its way into "News":

    ".....95% water along with two grams of clay and a small amount of organic materials."

    -So, in all ACTUALITY, the researchers did *NOT* make plastic out of water, the made it out of water, clay, and other chemicals, but not just water.

    This use of water is no more remarkable than the use of other absorbant polymers or hydrogels, such as Super Slurper, or for an organic material, Gelatin.

    It's about time somebody started seeing such "discoveries" for what they really are: Re-hashed Crap. I'm waiting to see a SlashDot article where somebody discovers The Wheel.

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    1. Re:*ANOTHER* Misleading Title..... by jelizondo · · Score: 2, Informative

      Apparently you missed it

      --
      Be very, very careful what you put into that head, because you will never, ever get it out. - Cardinal Wolsey
  12. Aerogel anyone? by Hurricane78 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Aerogel* is also only 2% silica and 98% air. Doesn’t mean it’s made out of air.
    This is a material out of clay, that can bind lots of water. Just like aerogel binds lots of air.

    ___
    * Btw, my favorite of all “normal” materials on this planet. :) (The favorite abnormal is definitely a Bose-Einstein condensate!)

    --
    Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
  13. Safe for human use? by sodafox · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Just because it is 95% water does not mean it is necessarily safe for human use. Aside from a little clay, what is the rest of that 5% of 'organic material'? Formaldehyde is an organic material, and I would not want that put into my body in any great quantity.

  14. whaa? by dissy · · Score: 2, Interesting

    First:

    is a jelly-like substance made up of 95% water along with two grams of clay and a small amount of organic materials.

    Then:

    because it's made of water, poses no harm to people

    That's about as reassuring as saying "This 95% water and 5% deadly deadly poison solution will be completely safe to inject directly into your bloodstream, since it is made completely out of water!"

  15. Another Great Product That Won't Make It by Codename+Dutchess · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This will never replace oil based plastics. All you need to do is look at how hemp isn't replacing wood products, paper, clothing, etc. There are too few people with too much money running the oil industry. If they don't want your little water-plastics taking over the market, then it won't be. Simple as that.

  16. Re:First Post by Jarnin · · Score: 5, Funny

    When asked about potential choking hazard to dolphins, the Japanese scientists were quoted saying, "Fuck you dolphin!"