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Bacteria Eat Styrofoam
chaosmage42 writes "Scientists at the University of Dublin have found a way to break down styrofoam, the bane of recyclers/composters everywhere. This could be a great step towards sustainability, but it does require the styrofoam to be heated first."
When the styrofoam eating bacteria get out of hand, we'll just release some bioengineered bacteria eating eukaryotic flagellates to eat the bacteria. You know, like on the Simpsons.
I might be the only one who remembers Larry Niven's "Ring World" series - SciFi about a ring that completely circles a star, and that provides many millions of times the living area of Earth. The Ring World's civilization was destroyed through the introduction of a plastic-eating microorganism. (The things ate the superconductors.)
I've long worried that some entrepreneurial little microbe would learn to efficiently eat modern plastics, and spread. My truck wouldn't run without plastics. My computer would not work. My carry pistol's polymer frame would be eaten (no that it would help vs. microbes.) Food packaging would be targeted. All that storable food in 5 gallon buckets and Food Saver bags would be exposed. The handle would fall off my pocket knife! My cheap, optical microscope that I put aside for post-nuclear-war diagnosis would be trashed. Most lab equipment is plastic, and would be eaten. Plastic pipes and valves would die, causing problems. We would not have the technology left to beat the little buggers, and we'd die off.
Andy Out!