Glass made of amino acids can be 3D-printed and dissolves in the body

Glass made from amino acids could be used for optical devices implanted in the body that dissolve away after use.

Many glass materials use compounds that aren’t easily recyclable and can be toxic for the environment, which also rules out their use in the human body.

Now, Xuehai Yan at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing and his colleagues have developed glass made from chains of organic compounds called amino acids that aren’t harmful and dissolve in the …