(Top) General scheme for using mechanical force to trigger a radical chain reaction. (Bottom) Shreds of a grocery bag were utilized to initiate a reaction in a ball mill jar. (Koji Kubota, et al. Journal of the American Chemical Society. December 22, 2023)

Associate Professor Koji Kubota (left) and Professor Hajime Ito (right) of the research team at the Institute for Chemical Reaction Design and Discovery (WPI-ICReDD), Hokkaido University. (Photo: WPI-ICReDD)