Kickstart: Shooting the eclipse

Anyone in the path of the April 8 total solar eclipse that will cover a broad swath of North America, including a stretch of the U.S. from Texas to Cleveland, will likely want to document the experience.

An Ohio film company has come out with a product designed to help them do just that.

Grafix Plastics' SafeShot has specialized film that meets eclipse-safe standards enclosed in a sturdy holder. Attach it to your smartphone and you can shoot photos or video while also watching the eclipse.

"When you are wearing eclipse glasses, you can't see anything other than the sun," the Maple Heights-based Grafix says on its website. "You have to take them off to mess with your smartphone. This creates a challenging and distracted experience."

Grafix Plastics President Jordan Katz told local TV station WKYC the company developed the SafeShot after seeing people trying to take photos of the 2017 eclipse. It received a patent for it in 2022.

Grafix is now selling about 1,000 SafeShots per day through local retailers and online, and Jordan told WKYC that he expects sales to increase.

You know all those studies environmental groups tend to cite that claim Americans ingest a "credit card's worth" of plastic every week?

Well, all that plastic has to go somewhere, and some of it may end up in farmers' fields in the form of "biosolids."

In case you weren't aware of this, municipal sewage systems separate and clean solids as part of the waste treatment process. Those products then become a nutrient-dense material called either biosolids or the less aesthetically pleasing "sewage sludge." The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says 56 percent of biosolids are then used as fertilizer for farms, golf courses and landscaping.

That brings us back to the question of the microplastics we unwittingly digest and what happens after we eliminate them. That's what a group of Democratic senators would like to know, too.

Plastics News' Bridget Janis writes that Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley, who's been active on a number of plastics-related public policy discussions, is one of five senators calling for a study on biosolids and microplastics.

"As microplastics leave their mark on seemingly every aspect of our lives, it's important that we invest in research to better understand just how many microplastics are found in biosolids," Merkley said in a news release. "Knowing the impacts on soil health, crops and public health will equip us with the knowledge to help adapt our farming methods."

Electric vehicles have had problems breaking through to wide consumer acceptance. Can hydrogen fuel cell cars do better?

General Motors and Honda have just started production of a hydrogen fuel cell system joint venture in suburban Detroit that promises more sustainable vehicles than traditional cars and trucks. Like EVs, cars with fuel cell infrastructure would rely heavily on plastics, including hydrogen tanks with carbon-fiber composite shells.

Our sister paper Automotive News writes GM and Honda have invested $85 million to create Fuel Cell System Manufacturing, aimed at scaling up manufacturing of fuel cells.