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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 happens when this species is "accidentally" released near a plastic-lined holding pond for toxic waste?
What could go wrong? - Louis Wu
Well... The plastic-eating microbes could get loose and destroy everything made of plastic - like electrical insulation, etc.... like in the book, Mutant 59: The Plastic Eaters. But, that's just science fiction.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
For 30 odd million years after trees evolved, nothing could eat dead wood. Dead trees piled up and their accumulated weight created the coal deposits that Trump knows and loves so well today.
Then after a few handy mutations, a microbe learned to eat wood. These microbes then learned to cohabitate in the gut of insects we now call termites in order to get around better. Together they eat houses.
Could happen with plastic.
And guitars.
Table-ized A.I.