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A Caterpillar May Lead To a 'Plastic Pollution' Solution (bbc.com)
New submitter FatdogHaiku quotes a report from BBC: Researchers at Cambridge University have discovered that the larvae of the moth, which eats wax in bee hives, can also degrade plastic. Experiments show the insect can break down the chemical bonds of plastic in a similar way to digesting beeswax. The plastic is used to make shopping bags and food packaging, among other things, but it can take hundreds of years to decompose completely. However, caterpillars of the moth (Galleria mellonella) can make holes in a plastic bag in under an hour. They think microbes in the caterpillar -- as well as the insect itself -- might play a role in breaking down plastic. If the chemical process can be identified, it could lead to a solution to managing plastic waste in the environment.
What could go wrong? - Louis Wu
What happens when this species is "accidentally" released near a plastic-lined holding pond for toxic waste?
Bacteria are already evolving that eat plastic. Create an opportunity for energy, and something quickly evolves to take advantage of it:
https://phys.org/news/2016-03-newly-bacteria-plastic-bottles.html
Evolution 101.
yeah. i got one of those, too.
I knew since the beginning that I never needed to care. Such is my belief in life and evolution.
I can say the same thing about CO2 emissions. There will be vegetation to clean it all up. All we have to do is cut trees and burry them deep, and plant new trees. Problem solved.
But won't we have to teach them to swim first?
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
All the previous posters joke about mutant moths and such. In reality no one wants to release these critters. They want to find out what the chemical process is and see if it can be replicated industrially and effeciently. If it works without massive energy input then it is a viable alternative to putting plastic in landfills.
Silence is a state of mime.
well since their chemical dissolves plastic..
anyways, it's probably not very practical to dump that chemical in large quantities into the sea unless you want some unforeseen consequences.
plenty of chemicals will break down the plastics anyways.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
Unfortunately we're currently unburying and burning 400 years worth of old trees per year. Can't compensate for that by growing trees (one year's worth of trees per year). We're off by two orders of magnitude.
Where are we going and why are we in a handbasket?
1. I gave an example of a bacteria NOW that is eating plastic PET bottles. This is not a hypothetical, its been discovered. It's not a hypothetical case that we wait millions of years and see, they are ALREADY being found after 60 years in the case of PET.
2. There's no reason it would go back to a 60 million old bacteria THAT NO LONGER EXISTS, and evolve from THAT bacteria, the ones that CANNOT eat complex hydrocarbons. Evolution 102, it evolves from whatever there is TODAY and there are bacteria that CAN eat complex hydrocarbons today, so of course eating a different complex hydrocarbon would evolve from THAT already evolved bacteria.
PET lasted 60-70 years or so, Nylon is another plastic that's been discovered eaten:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nylon-eating_bacteria
"There is scientific consensus that the capacity to synthesize nylonase most probably developed as a single-step mutation that survived because it improved the fitness of the bacteria possessing the mutation. More importantly: The enzyme involved has been produced by a mutation completely randomizing the original gene. Despite this, the new gene still had a novel, albeit weak, catalytic capacity. This is seen as a good example of how mutations easily can provide the raw material for evolution by natural selection."
It's a much shorter evolution step from organic polymers to man made polymers, than the time it takes to evolve from nothing to eating lignin.
Wasn't there some story about a bacteria or something that ate ink which ended with all the books in the world having blank pages?
You have just made me a very rich man...
Plastics aren't one substance - it is a description of a huge and diverse family of materials with some common features.
On one side they do not know how it works.
They think microbes in the caterpillar - as well as the insect itself - might play a role in breaking down plastic.
If the chemical process can be identified, it could lead to a solution to managing plastic waste in the environment.
On the other side they patent it
Dr Bombelli and colleague Federica Bertocchini of the Spanish National Research Council have patented the discovery.
Seen getting fat eating a flexible plastic folding lawn chair.
I just hope the plastic doesn't fight back, leading to a plastic pollution solution retribution.
But then, maybe the caterpillars would adapt, leading to a plastic pollution solution retribution evolution.
I am surprised that there are no plastic pollution deniers... Under-educated morons would certainly believe such a thing. C'mon Fox, I'm sure you could come with such a news!
Seattle WA:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/20/us/seattle-bans-plastic-bags-and-sets-a-5-cent-charge-for-paper.html
And this news was side-by-bide with news about plastic roads :)
Bon appetit!
It's all good and wonderful with these critters rapidly multiplying to eat all the plastic. Then it gets loose in food warehouses and grocery stores, either accidentally due to a population explosion or human caused terrorism, and the entire food supply chain collapses as a good number of food containers are breached and other harmful pests and pathogens get in.
Beware of Sales Reps bearing gifts.