Photos courtesy of JAMSTECScenery 100 meters away is seen through a sheet of transparent paper which is 0.7 millimeters thick. The transparent paper sheets can be broken down by microbes into water and carbon dioxide. To make the paper sheets, the team used cellulose powder made from fibers found on the surfaces of cotton seeds. The paper sheets become transparent because they are packed tightly with nanometer-scale (one 1-billionth of a meter) fibers. Transparent paper could overcome this problem, but bringing the material to market will require factories with the technology to mass-produce it.