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Lorna Slater, the Scottish Greens minister who introduced the scheme during her time in government, says she hopes glass can still ultimately be included in the scheme.

"Glass, while strong, is prone to breaking when stress exceeds its tolerance, but interestingly, the movement of atoms and molecules within glass can relax internal stress, making the material more resistant to fractures," points out Makina Saito, an associate professor at Tohoku University's Graduate School of Science.

In fact, the light bouncing off careening space junk – defunct satellites, pieces of spacecraft, cellphones, nuts, bolts, shards of metal and glass – can prevent astronomers from seeing, photographing and navigating by means of the stars.

Focusing a tailored laser beam through transparent glass can create a tiny spot inside the material.

Their discovery implies that oxidation in low-dimension metallic glass can result in unique properties for applications in sensors, medical devices and other nanodevices.