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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.
Create an opportunity for energy, and something quickly evolves to take advantage of it
Counter-example: Trees evolved lignin about 360 million years ago, yet for 60 million years no other organism evolved the ability to digest the enormous piles of energy dense material. Most of the world's coal deposits formed during this period. Fungus finally evolved the ability to break down lignin, but the process was not efficient and has been described as "untieing a knot with a flamethrower". The same process is still in use by fungi today.
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.
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?
That is not at all a strange thought. When the Dutch started building their first waterworks, they used enormous amounts of wood that was not situated in the water before. After a few decades, this brought a plague of the naval shipworm, who gladly made use of this new paradise. The Dutch off course were less amused by this creature that attacked their wooden structures.
Nae king! Nae laird! Nae yurrupiean pressedent! We willna be fooled again!