High School Student Discovers Plastic-Eating Microbe

Mother Nature Network:

Daniel had a thought it seems even the most esteemed microbiology PhD's hadn't considered. Plastic, one of the most indestructible of manufactured materials, does in fact eventually decompose. It takes 1,000 years but decompose it does, which means there must be microorganisms out there to do the decomposing.

Could those microorganisms be bred to do the job faster?

Read the whole story: Mother Nature Network

Comments

[HummusGringo]

01:47 AM on 07/10/2009

This is amazing! Yes, this is Nobel Prize material right here, I agree!

This gives me some real hope for the future of the environment! Way to go, Daniel!

[starrianna]

11:51 PM on 06/14/2009

Let's give this kid the NOBEL PRIZE and immediately ship him off to the Pacific Ocean to get rid of our waste!

This story made my day. There is hope for the world.

[research]

05:37 PM on 06/16/2009

Hey, it's a cool project and a worthy achievement,

but a plastic eating bug could be a lot worse than the plastic waste itself. Better to convert that plastic to energy and BioFuels via BioChar. See my profile.

[grandma58]

12:51 PM on 06/14/2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlQEvbn6vIw&feature=related
missed the htt, sorry about that

[grandma58]

12:50 PM on 06/14/2009

p://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlQEvbn6vIw&feature=related

[Ryoki]

10:42 AM on 06/14/2009

MUTANT 59: THE PLASTIC EATERS
by Pedler, Kit & Gerry Davis
A book from 1973 about a bacteria that eats plastics.

[fcsakes]

10:15 AM on 06/14/2009

Why put down the achievements of these young people? At least they are working for a solution to a monumental human problem and the article did point out that the solution needs testing and further study.

At least these students, why are by the way boys (see another article on leaving boys behind) are not out stealing cars, playing video games, or trying to be macho on the football field. These kids will go far I think and they just might come up with solutions to other problems the world faces.

Encouragement might be more appropriate than dissing.

[mamacat]

09:59 PM on 06/13/2009

There have been scenarios like this one investigated before. I remember reading about one discussion on the matter, and there were concerns that any organisms that could readily eat plastic, a petroleum derivative, might learn to also consume oil products, and maybe even raw oil. If we create organisms that can devour plastics, which then also eat oil, we might end up facing a real and immediate energy crisis, one with devastating results.

[RTIII]

09:34 PM on 06/13/2009

"Plastic, one of the most indestructible of manufactured materials, does in fact eventually decompose. It takes 1,000 years but decompose it does, which means there must be microorganisms out there to do the decomposing."

This premise is false. Plastic decomposes primarily because of non-biotic chemistry. Elastomers leave the matrix through, literally, evaporation and the remaining complex can then decompose more easily. Most rubbers and plastics also decompose based upon reactions initiated by ultraviolet light and O2.

This isn't to say there aren't microbes that can eat plastic - I easily believe it - just that the presumption stated in the opening lines of the article are full of malarkey.
.

[BannedNBoston]

03:49 PM on 06/13/2009

The billionaires of the world could pay for barges to chop up & microwave into diesel that huge plastic zone in the ocean.
They dont really care. They just want to keep the slaves occupied thinking they are green.
real green is planting hemp on the median strips and sides of freeways

4 minutes of truth
http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/635.html

[mamacat]

10:03 PM on 06/13/2009

I have traveled on both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. There was much more plastic waste visible in the Pacific, which leads me to wonder if some of the Asian countries are not practicing the wholesale dumping of plastics into the ocean. In the Atlantic, I saw only a fraction of the plastic visible in the Pacific, and it did not look like consumer waste products.

[verhaftik1]

12:43 PM on 06/13/2009

Could it be that humans are finally joining the rest of the ecosystem in fully recycling our waste? It would be a miracle.

[SimJack]

10:25 AM on 06/13/2009

OMG, he's created the Andromeda Strain!

[b1986]

08:30 PM on 06/13/2009

I remember that movie. Clever.

[llisa]

01:51 AM on 06/13/2009

So, how was the scientific community researching this that a 16 year old kid beat them to it? Sounds like the kid followed the scientific process. But, what were they doing?

[AbstractionAction]

11:24 AM on 06/13/2009

Anybody can learn about a subject and follow the scientific process. "Scientists" are just people who spend years doing that and are therefore expected to be good at it.

But as Einstein showed, science is just as much about the imagination as it is being able to work maths and theories.

[verhaftik1]

12:57 PM on 06/13/2009

And then "scientists" get bullied by profit based industries to pervert good science into banal profit centers, rather being encouraged to improve on past inventions or discoveries. Hence the reason many true scientists don't even bother anymore. Entre the 16 year olds.

[ztck5356]

11:43 PM on 06/12/2009

Are these microbes going to eat my plastic car?

[sviolette]

01:58 AM on 06/13/2009

What about plastic clothing? Everything has plastic in it.

[RudyV]

03:12 AM on 06/13/2009

That 1980 Get Smart movie was entitled "The Nude Bomb".

[RTIII]

09:36 PM on 06/13/2009

The new moths...
.

[jsarets]

07:50 PM on 06/12/2009

This process has been known for some time. In 1975, Japanese scientists discovered a species of bacteria living in a waste pond at a plastic factory that had evolved the ability to eat a synthetic byproduct of nylon production. Other scientists, working independently with a different species of bacteria, were able to induce the evolution of the same ability in a laboratory setting.

Bacteria can be "trained" to eat just about anything. Just put them in an environment rich in the desired "food" and gradually wean them off their usual food source. Eventually, the extremely advantageous mutation will occur and rapidly spread throughout the colony.

The nylon-eating bacteria caused quite a stir with the creationist movement and has received a fair bit of publicity. The kid and/or his science teacher may or may not have been aware of this, but the fact that a high school student pulled it off demonstrates how simple this can be.

Now he can patent his own living thing. Come on, all the cool biotech companies are doing it!

[captainindustry]

07:15 AM on 06/13/2009

can you patent a living thing? Even if you could, you couldn't sell them on Ebay.

[drkazmd65]

02:16 PM on 06/13/2009

You can't really patent a natural product (for example a bacterium),... but you can patent unique processes using those natural products, and if you have genetically modified that organism in a specific way - at least you used to be able to patent it.

Should be interesting to follow this - assuming the kid is interested in a patent.

[RTIII]

09:40 PM on 06/13/2009

Yes, you can.

BUT, you have to show YOU developed the genetic trick and then added it to a creature's genetic makeup. This is the foundation of Monsanto's rather famous GMO foods like corn, rice and wheat. It is also, of course, highly contentious and is being contested.
.

[AngieMom57]

03:34 PM on 06/12/2009

Solutions on a Friday afternoon is what life is all about!

Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful...