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Teen Discovers Plastic-Decomposing Bacteria
ganelo writes to tell us that 16-year-old Waterloo Collegiate Institute student Danel Burd has made quite a stir with his plastic-eating bacteria discovery. For his efforts Burd won top prize at a Canada-wide science fair claiming a $10,000 prize and a $20,000 scholarship. "Tests to identify the strains found strain two was Sphingomonas bacteria and the helper was Pseudomonas. A researcher in Ireland has found Pseudomonas is capable of degrading polystyrene, but as far as Burd and his teacher Mark Menhennet know -- and they've looked -- Burd's research on polyethelene plastic bags is a first."
Now when people come back into my store and complain about their shopping bags breaking, I can tell them why!
You know what would be cool is instead of just saying ooh I wonder if it eats plastic too and finding out it does, though that's definitely stll amazing...put some bacteria that are at least close to maybe being able to eat X substance and put it on the surface of that substance and blast them with regular, mild radiation every day until some mutate until a colony mutates and starts eating the rubber/plastic/whatever. I've heard very little about forcing mutations randomly to try and get a given result but it seems like a good idea to me. I mean if this kid had found that the bacteria couldn't eat plastic, I doubt anyone would have given him the funding and stuff to try and alter them so they do. And yes, before anyone posts it, keep the test area damn well sealed too so supergerms don't get out (duh!).
Google's Super Secret Search Algorithm: SELECT @search_results FROM internet WHERE @search_results = 'good'
a top secret death squad under the auspices of the upper corporate echelon at ikea have been dispatched from stockholm to deal with this potentially profit decimating threat
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Actually, the bacteria was introduced after the teen discovered the cure for cancer in a plastic dish; however, before the cure could be analyzed in order to replicate it, the bacteria ate the dish and the cure. The Associated Press quoted the boy saying "God damnnit!"
- He thought a of a simple problem that hadn't been solved
- He investigated the obvious avenues first
- He used the resources at his disposal instead of trying
- He chose something where success and failure would both be easy to demonstrate
This was really good science. If he keeps it up look for his name with the words "Full Professor" in front and a list of patents afterwards some time soon.The man who never alters his opinion is like the stagnant water and breeds Reptiles of the Mind -- William Blake
Shouldn't this be tagged, "Mutant 59"? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kit_Pedler
All ideas^H^H^H^H^Hprocesses in this post are Patent Pending. (as well as the process of patenting all postings)
right now we're putting more CO2 into the atmosphere that we're taking out - largely by digging it up out of the ground and burning it. Plastic bags are largely made from fossil carbon - surely we're better off sequestering this carbon (by dropping it in a landfill, or down an old oil well, or coal mine) than we are breaking it down presumeably to CO2 which is released into the atmosphere
When I first came across it, I thought that it was an idea that needs some serious development. Plastics take up a huge amount of landfill space worldwide, and this is of use in the future.
That and recycling plastics, obviously.
If each mistake being made is a new one, then progress is being made.
"...you came up with an answer to 29 million tons of non-biodegradeable plastic being added to landfills each year, so here's 10 grand. Yep, 10 big ones. Oh, and go get yourself a bit of education."
Since the bacteria produce heat as a byproduct in addition to a negligible amount of CO2, perhaps this could be used to replace older trash incinerators to act as a type of greenhouse, with the heat coming not from trapped infrared, but from the microbial waste.
I wonder how hes going to turn that $20k into $100k so he can actually get a college degree.
If you're interested in facts I'll tell you what they are and I'll give you sources - Chomsky on The Big Idea
Fumo? Fumoffu!
As the price of oil continues to increase wouldn't it make more sense to recycle plastics rather than have them be eaten by microorganisms?
i don't remember how he fixed it
This bacterium might lead us to the next level in biological warfare.
I can't help but wonder about untindended consequences. Looking around at all the plastics, having them inadventantly eaten by bacteria would be a BAD thing.
The patent would be a patent of evolution. I doubt you can patent a natural process like this. But then again I don't know much on the US patent process, so...
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
visit randi.org
Great, more excuse for people to not recycle. It takes so much energy and oil to make new plastics that we are having to beg people for oil now.
Come back when your "ocean evaporation" theory can explain why Venus is twice as hot as Mercury....
No sig today...
The Andromeda Strain.
as if anybody hadn't thought of THAT one yet!
What can possibly go wrong ?
Does anybody really think that the discovery and propagation of voracious plastic eating bacteria is going to be a good thing ?
Your pc could just fall apart, the keyboard will disintegrate, as will the mouse, the monitor, the power leads feeding the hard drives etc etc. Backup discs ? LOL.
Sure they'll promise that it won't escape and only be used for good purposes, but that worked so well with cats in New Zealand, rabbits and dogs in Australia, and numerous other creatures in countless other situations.
People hailed the invention of plastic materials for housing, because of woodworm and termites, and now we want to propagate their replacements.
Looks like I'll have to build myself a steam punk pc out of cut glass or oak or something.
Like most of the initial announcements (that come way to early!), this has not been tested and shouldn't get anyone thrilled. Haven't we learned yet that there are consequences and effects related to the things we do? What is the by-product of these bateria? What conditions does it take for them to live and multiply in? When we have these little buggers all over the place, what affect on human health could it have? Don't throw your bags out the window just yet!
jsut athnoer menagiensls ltitle psrhae for you to dcoede. Why do we wtsae our tmie dnoig tihs?
This sounds like an excellent high school project, combined with crappy PR and lazy Journalism.
but as far as Burd and his teacher Mark Menhennet know -- and they've looked
Yeah right, so googling 'biodegradation Sphingomonas polyethene OR polyethylene' doesn't return any hits in Canada.
Shouldn't this be tagged, "Mutant 59"? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kit_Pedler
;-)
I'd go with "Ringworld Civilization Collapse Explained", http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ringworld.
We can only hope that people will not promote these plastic-eating bacteria. I sort of like the fact that we have -- other than metals -- a material that has no shelf date.
Laptop cases don't decompose right now. I hope I don't live long enough to see a time when they do.
My web domain.
The idea is not to have a plastic-decomposing machine. The problem to be solved is how to deal with plastic that gets buried in a landfill. Even though many people today do a conscious effort to recycle, it's still not enough, there will always be some plastic in the garbage.
With this invention, you just spray the surface with water containing the bacteria, it seeps in and decomposes the old buried plastic, and then the landfill place can be reclaimed for other uses.
America was in the process of moving to using corn starch for a number of things. In particular, it WAS becoming competitive with oil based plastic bags. That was killed when W. did his corn to fuel trick. If that man had a brain, he would have funded NREL or even offered an X-Prize for bacteria/algae conversion to ethanol/diesel. But instead, he wanted farmers to vote republican.
I do not know what is worse; what would the world be like if even a single neo-con had a brain and they had accomplished even a fraction of what they wanted vs. the current total incompetence that has produced monster trade and federal deficits, an occupation, stealing of our rights, spying on Americans, hatred of America, etc. etc.
Wait a year, then convert to American dollars. At that time, American Dollar will have dropped enough, but many Universities will still be good.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Actually, I have my own experiment going on in the kitchen. I sometimes use flimsy polyethylene bags for collecting kitchen garbage. They sit just on the counter. This includes wet stuff, old vegetables, tea leaves and so on. Every now and then I have a bag that is ok at the start. But after a week or so, it suddenly starts leaking. No change in mechanical load or so to account for it.
Has happened more often than I think plausible. Now I have a possible cause.
Anybody wants to buy my kitchen garbage?
Teenage student: I found this amazing bacteria!!
Teacher: GET OFF MY LAWN!!!
Said that this was a bad idea more than 30 years ago. So did Kit Pedler & Jerry Davis "Mutant 59: The Plastic Eaters"
I'd expect a lot more than 10k if I was in his position. And the 20k for school won't cut it either. This is a big deal!!
Ouch, so now on, titanium laptops. The plastic ones are to be eaten by the new computer bacteria, for which even the bullet resistant IE is not immune.
Waiting for the AVG bacteria scanner.
> Get with the program people. This is science not politics.
Let's see, science is (or was):
1. hypotheses
2. experimental confirmation
3. reproduceable prediction of results
4. documentation of model's errors
5. honest vetting of competing theories
And man-caused GW is:
1. wildly extrapolated hypothesis
2. ?? (no ability to confirm)
3. ?? (ignore erroneous predictions and competing explanations)
4. fear-mongering
5. public policy
6. profit!!
Okay, so this is politics. As usual.
At least the man-bear-pig crowd is not trying to kill people with it's brand of fear-based control.
"It is nice to know that the computer understands the problem. But I would like to understand it too." --Eugene Wigner
. . . Man's prosthetic arm is lost to plastic-eating bacteria. Necrotizing fasciitis afflicted community takes a moment of silence. There is no escape.
Can I bum a sig?
A termite for the 21st century...
100 bux says this kids dad is really the Orkin Man
PM
I'm not a climate scientist, but I did work in a paleoclimatology lab for awhile in college. I think the main problem I have with the global warming discussion -- like almost any other so-called "controversial" topic -- is that it rapidly becomes an argument among extremists.
NO ONE can deny that C02 is a greenhouse gas. The discussion should therefore be "how much is our CO2 output affecting global climate?" Instead the argument ends up being a battle between people claiming it is a "wildly extrapolated hypothesis" and people saying we're on the verge of a runaway greenhouse effect that will turn Earth into Venus.
I think it is undeniable that the climate is changing -- it has ALWAYS changed. There were times in the history of the Earth when there were ice caps extending almost to the equator. There were also times when there were probably NO permanent ice caps. Climate changes.
Likewise, it's fairly undeniable that increasing the total volume of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere will tend to push the climate in a warmer direction. If our natural cycle is one of warming, it will accelerate the warmth. If we're in a cooling period, it will decelerate the cooling.
Now if we would just start with that framework, we could have a worthwhile discussion about what type of climate cycle we're in right now, and to what degree our output of CO2 (and the methane produced by the ridiculously large population of cattle we've domesticated) will affect that cycle.
Most hot tubs and swimming pools have a chlorine/bromine-based water chemistry, to kill bacteria. But there's an alternative treatment, based on biguanide polymers, that IIRC weakens the cell walls of the bacteria. (It's sold as BaquaSpa and BaquaCil, among others.)
The most common bacteria in hot tubs? Pseudomonas.
So... who wins that battle?
Plastic bags can't be recycled. Actually, they *can*, but it costs the recycling companies too much money. They're a pain to handle.
The solution? Plastics made from food products (such as corn) that can biodegrade in a reasonable amount of time. Then to recycle them put them in one big compost pile and sell 'natural' fertilizer.
Of course, I don't know squat about said subject except it sounds like a good idea. I'll have to do more research. Anyone care to elaborate on the subject?
Need an automatic screenshot taker? Try here.
SO does this mean that all the Environmentalists now have to shut their traps about paper or plastic? (I know.. they now want everyone to bring their own canvas bags to the store).
Seriously though... if there are natural bacteria that decompose both polystyrene and polyethylene... doesn't that just mean that the studies that showed that those materials would last for a really long time in landfills were just plain wrong, and that we should stop feeling guilty about throwing them away - as far as polluting the environment goes?
Recycling is still a good idea of course. If only because it stimulates the economy with all kinds of new 'made from recycled materials' products that consumers seem to love.. even if they are cheaper and more disposable than the higher grade material versions.
A fool throws a stone into a well and a thousand sages can not remove it.
This is a fake! It does not exist! Plastic CANNOT be decomposed by bacteria! We have no proof! The plastic is not decomposing! It lives forever! Here, I'll prove it: I'll show you a plastic bag that has been buried for ten years--
Hey! Where'd it go? I buried it right here!
me. --a by-product of public education
How many times I've been eating on my large plastic garden table in my student time!
;)
This plastic (and pretty cheap) table has served me long in my house..
Now it's in the way of everything, standing against the wall, maybe those bacteria would have been the solution for a long time to a more classy lifestyle
--- I am known for the ones who want to find me on the net. Is that a privacy risk or a privilege? One might wonder..
It would be kinda bad if the wiring insulation in every house started getting eaten. All I could find on the type of plastic used is "thermoplastic" of which there are so many kinds.
For new homes, PEX (cross-linked polyethylene) is taking over from copper for water piping.
What isn't getting much notice is the fact that this story is just really good news: it turns out that plastic bags biodegrade through bacterial action just like wood or paper. Where are the cheers?
Wood and paper don't liquify overnight due to unstoppable bacteria - we make plenty of packaging out of paper and even build quite sturdy structures out of wood. But they break down eventually. It all works out quite well for everyone - us, bacteria, and the environment. Well, as it turns out, so do plastic bags. Considering most people think plastic bags are going to last hundreds of thousands of years, they are viewed as much more evil litter than paper bags. Turns out this view is misguided. Isn't that cause for celebration?
Hopefully, it will turn out that styrofoam, PET, PE, PVC and all the hundreds of other plastics and petrochemicals biodegrade too. This is not to say that plastic litter s not a problem. It is better for farm animals and sea turtles to eat paper bags by accident than plastic ones. But still, the idea that the giant Pacific garbage vortex won't be there forever is comforting news.
A-Bomb
Wasn't bad read as I remember.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
now he needs to get someone to sponsor him to dump some of this in the middle of that large plastic floating island...
by Frank Herbert, anyone?
Mark Anthony Collins
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/d/gerry-davis/mutant-59.htm
I'd go on a Vegan diet but the delivery time from Vega is too long. --brownkitty
Check out the TV show Connections... http://www.amazon.com/Connections-2-5-DVD-set/dp/B0000DIZSF
the return of industrial hemp. I still believe this plant could help with re-stabilizing the environment, and the economy. Now, if only people could put aside the misconceptions of hemp versus the psychoactive, flowering portion of the female plant, we might get somewhere.
I know I'd like hemp grocery bags. Strong and long-lasting.
No sig for you! Come back one year!
Have you read Ill Wind?