
Boy discovers microbe that eats plastic - iamelgringo
http://www.mnn.com/technology/research-innovations/blogs/boy-discovers-microbe-that-eats-plastic
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skmurphy
This is how "Mutant 59: The Plastic Eaters"
[http://www.amazon.com/Mutant-59-Plastic-Eaters-Kit-
Pedler/dp...](http://www.amazon.com/Mutant-59-Plastic-Eaters-Kit-
Pedler/dp/0670496626) started, a researcher who wants to clean up oil spills
and plastic trash has developed a microbe the eats plastic that is
accidentally released into the sewers of London.

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JoelMcCracken
Old? not sure, but probably what I've seen on reddit a few years ago.

Very great read, none-the-less.

~~~
miles
Wired story from May 2008:

Teen Decomposes Plastic Bag in Three Months
<http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/05/teen-decomposes/>

~~~
asdlfj2sd33
And that's also not entirely right as these microbes were known before the the
kid "discovered" them: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nylon-eating_bacteria>

But _Teen discovers world saving tech_ is too good a story to let reality get
in the way.

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lliiffee
Someone correct me if I am wrong here, but wouldn't this same selective
breeding process happen naturally in any waste area enriched with plastics?
(Bacteria will reproduce to the extent that they can metabolize the plastic.)
The fact that plastics in landfills haven't disappeared seems to indicate that
optimal bacteria in the wild simply don't eat plastic that fast.

~~~
larryfreeman
The idea is that he isolated the bacteria and identified conditions (i.e.
temperatures) where the bacteria are more effective.

If you increase the population of a natural agent and modify the environment,
then you should be able to significantly speed up the decomposition of
plastics.

~~~
lliiffee
Very interesting. Perhaps the article should be titled "boy discovers
conditions under which bacteria eat plastic". It still seems like introducing
the new bacteria into the environment would be pointless, though. If the
conditions in the landfill are left as they are now, I imagine the new
bacteria would evolve back into what is presently optimal. If we modify the
conditions, these new strains of bacteria would evolve on their own anyway...
I guess I am assuming there are no local nash equilibria in the competition
between different strains.

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IsaacSchlueter
I'm not sure it makes sense to say that he "discovered" the microbe.

Isn't it more like he "created" it?

~~~
rdrimmie
I don't think he created it, he selected the best performers of an apparently
existing species and bred them.

~~~
IsaacSchlueter
Well, right. That's how you go about creating an organism.

The fact is, there were no bacteria that did what his bacteria does (degrade
plastic quickly.) Now there is, as a result of his intention and actions.

I'd call that creation.

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TheAmazingIdiot
Take it as you will.. A story.

We change our own oil in our vehicles. We save it in oil cans for either
burning on a fire or pouring along with gasoline down a hornet hole. We know
it's "Bad for the environment" but we do it.

One year, we decided to re-roof our house. Considering it was 2500 sq ft, it
was an arduous job. Now, for those that know about roofing, you use tar paper,
which is asbestos with really thick petroleum tar (think super thick motor
oil). One evening, we left a half of a roll lying outside cause we were too
damned tired of taking it off the raised porch. It was on concrete, and not
the grass.

The next morning (we started about 9am), the roll of tar paper was crawling -
literally. There were hundreds of thousands of ants milling about everywhere.
We go to shake them off, and lots of egg sacs fall out. But along with the
white egg sacs, we notice that the inside of the roll is now pure white
fibers. The ants ATE the petroleum tar.

We've noticed similar events, but never saw it happen over the course of 12
hours. We then tested it later with used motor oil... they ate it up too.

It just tells me that whenever nature creates something (petroleum), it also
creates something to eat it. And sometimes nature creates stuff to eat man
made stuff.

~~~
roc
I don't think any serious research ever posited that nature can't survive the
after-effects of human activity.

The issue is that if we allow motor oil, lead, mercury, etc to become part of
the ecosystem, then nature will no longer be friendly to -us-.

Consider that we already live in a world where one must ration their fish
intake for fear of mercury poisoning.

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ilkhd2
Hmm..news.. There thousands types of plastics, some are well known to be
biodegradable since 1960-s. For example,
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyhydroxybutyrate>.

