Plastic is under attack these days for the environmental problems it causes. But sustainability-minded shoppers might not be aware that many organic farmers — like their traditional farming neighbors — also rely on plastic. It’s spread over the ground as a form of mulch (覆盖物) to control weeds, conserve water and aid plant growth.

The flat plastic prevents sunlight from hitting the ground and encouraging weed growth. In addition to weed control, plastic works well with drip irrigation (滴灌), a system that conserves water by delivering it directly to plant roots. And the plastic also control soil temperature in ways that increase harvest for farmers. Heat-loving crops — like tomatoes, peppers and eggplants — will mature weeks earlier on plastic versus bare ground.

Yet there is the disturbing problem of waste. At the end of the season, the vast majority of the plastic is lifted from the ground and then taken to landfills, meaning a major cost and labor challenge for farmers.

That’s why so many farmers want an alternative. Although natural mulches like straw (稻草) and paper that break down in the soil do exist, they are too costly or for many farmers. But if a plastic mulch could slowly degrade (降解) over the course of the season, disappearing into the field and reducing waste, it would be a dream solution.

Right now, however, no such solution exists for organic farms, because the biodegradable plastic mulches on the market all contain petroleum-based materials. According to the law, any biodegradable mulch could only be used if it was 100 percent “bio-based” — that is, made entirely from plant materials. Hopefully, a company would bring a bio-based mulch to market — one that acts like plastic but doesn’t contain any petroleum-based materials and so would be approved for use in organic farming.

Faced with a decreasing population and shrinking workforce, Japan has been increasingly turning to robots for help. Over the years, the robots have been used to perform a large number of human tasks, including building products and providing care and companionship for the elderly. The latest addition to the Japanese “workforce” may be Model-T. This seven-foot-tall robot is recently practising restocking sandwiches, drinks, and ready meals on shelves at a number of locations of local convenience store chains Lawson and FamilyMart.

Model-T, whose face is slightly like that of a kangaroo, is certainly not the first restocking robot. However, the warehouse robots now being used by companies like Walmart and Amazon are only able to accomplish single, repetitive tasks, such as put the boxes in a line. Model-T, on the other hand, has a wide range of movement and can be used to restock objects of various sizes, making it ideal for convenience and grocery stores, which sell a large variety of items.

Named after the classic Ford Motor car that began the era of mass motoring a century ago, Model-T is not autonomous(自动的). Instead, it is operated by human “pilots” wearing a virtual reality (VR) headset and special gloves, which allow them to feel the product the robot is holding in their hands and guide it to the right shelf. Since the video connection between the robot and the human operator has a 50 millisecondsˈ delay, the navigation process is very smooth. Telexistence Inc., the company behind Model-T, says the VR-controlled robots are easier to develop. They are also ten times cheaper than autonomous robots, which require complex programming.

Model-Tˈs easy-to-use controls require little training and can be operated from a remote location. This ability will enable the chain stores to get new employees who would typically not work in stores. “There are about 1.6 million people in Japan who, for various reasons, are not active in the workforce,” Kano, a general manager at FamilyMart, told Japan Times.

Scientists in Germany say they have used new technology to create see-through human organs (器官). They say the technology could lead to production of three-dimensional (3D) body parts for use in transplant (移植) operations.

The scientists are with Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich. They said they developed a process that uses a substance to make see- through organs, such as the brain and kidneys. The German researchers use lasers (激光) to obtain a picture of the organ to be replaced. The laser light helps them see every single cell inside the blood vessels (血管中的细胞).

The researchers use this information to print out the structure of the whole organ. For this, they need special equipment. They use a 3D printer to produce the structure--one that has height, width and length.

The researchers then load the printer with stem cells, which can become any kind of cell in the body. The stem cells act as “ink” in the printer. They are put into the correct position, making the organ fully operational.

The leader of the study, Ali Erturk, described the new technology as a major development for 3D printing in the medical field.” Previously 3D-printed organs lacked detailed cellular structures because they were based on pictures from computer tomography or MRI machines,” he explained.

“We can see where every single cell is, and we can actually replicate it exactly the same,” Erturk said. “I believe we are much closer to a real human organ for the first time now,” he added. Erturk and his team plan to start by creating bioprinted organs. They hope to develop a human kidney within 5-6 years. The researchers will first test to see if animals can live with bioprinted organs and could start tests within five to ten years, he predicted.