Will gloves made of seaweed goo be next Japanese trend to sweep the globe? [Video]

Would you wear a pair of seaweed gloves? 

Students at a Tokyo high school have created recyclable gloves using fibre found in seaweed slime, and they are strong enough to undertake a range of tasks. 

Three students from the Tokyo Metropolitan Tama High School of Science and Technology in Koganei, western Tokyo, developed the gloves for the Japan Science & Engineering Challenge (JSEC) 2023.

They focused their research on alginic acid, a bio-based material found in brown algae and seaweed, which causes sliminess. 

Initially, the students attempted to make plastic from the material, but when one student dipped his finger into the solution of sodium alginate, the alginic acid chosen, and then in a liquid solution of calcium chloride, he found his finger was covered in a gel-like layer. 

The students, Shuhei Otsuka, Takumi Kaneko and Reo Nishihira, realised that their findings could be used to make gloves that can fit anyone’s hands perfectly. 

They then surveyed more than 120 workers who used gloves …