A Caterpillar May Lead To a 'Plastic Pollution' Solution (bbc.com) 71
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.
yeah i've heard of this... (Score:2)
Re:yeah i've heard of this... (Score:5, Funny)
You mean other than Godzilla-sized caterpillars roaming downtown streets eating people because of their delicious nylon candy coating?
Re:yeah i've heard of this... (Score:5, Interesting)
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 [goodreads.com]. But, that's just science fiction.
Re:yeah i've heard of this... (Score:5, Interesting)
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. [youtube.com]
Re: yeah i've heard of this... (Score:1)
Not mine, I built it out of brick, so it is also pneumatic lupine proof.
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Hey, that would make an excellent children's tale. Let's share royalties.
Hold it, California earthquakes take down brick. Back to the drawing board...
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Not needed. You people keep telling others to stop living in areas prone to flooding. Well, stop living in earthquakes-prone areas you numb-nuts.
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Tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, 10 ft. snow, volcanoes, etc., I wonder what places have the least risk? It seems every place can be bleeped by Acts of God in roughly the same proportion.
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Of course, that's not viable for most of the population, but it
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Pneumatic Lupine, sounds like a cool name for a metal band.
Re:yeah i've heard of this... (Score:4, Insightful)
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What's the citation for the 30 million years with nothing eating dead wood. I've always heard that it was wood and other plant matter that was deposited in bogs and protected from bacteria by acidic water and mud. 30 million years seems like an inordinately long time for a bacterium to go before evolving to eat such an abundant food source.
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http://phenomena.nationalgeogr... [nationalgeographic.com]
Okay, the number is a bit off.
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Ha, that is very cool. I had never heard of this before today. Thank you for the link!
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What could go wrong? - Louis Wu
Well if all those moths that breed from the plastic bag feeding frenzy get loose the recent Colony Collapses observed by bee keepers will seem like a happy memory which would be very very bad.
Nature will not be contained (Score:5, Interesting)
What happens when this species is "accidentally" released near a plastic-lined holding pond for toxic waste?
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Why would caterpillars be any more dangerous than, say, good old explosives? I assume the caterpillars don't eat all plastic at a rate too rapid to stop, unlike a bomb.
Kind of skeptical any such plastic lined ponds are actually effective at anything aside from liability issues anyway. Or
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Nothing because based on the article the caterpillars are natural and very common. Researchers are studying the natural bio-chemical process in the caterpillar's gut with the hope it can be applied elsewhere, but that doesn't mean they need caterpillars to apply it.
Evolution of bacteria (Score:1)
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.
Re:Evolution of bacteria (Score:5, Informative)
Create an opportunity for energy, and something quickly evolves to take advantage of it
Counter-example: Trees evolved lignin [wikipedia.org] 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 [wikipedia.org]. 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.
Re: Nylon being eaten too (Score:1)
When can I get a fecal transplant containing bacterial such as this so I too can eat plastic? I would no longer feel so angered by delicious looking fake fruit.
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But since there is no evolution it's a clear sign that god exists and that he just now so created that bacterium for ... reasons.
Stop asking weird questions and get on your knees, dammit!
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But since there is no evolution it's a clear sign that god exists and that he just now so created that bacterium for ... reasons.
Creationists don't deny that evolution happens and that new characteristics can emerge due to natural selection. They just don't accept that this can lead to the emergence of new species. If you intend to convince anyone, you should at least take the time to understand their position, rather than just attacking strawmen.
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Yes, yes, "micro evolution".
Guess what? "macro evolution" (aka "evolution") is just what they dubbed micro evolution plus lots and lots of time.
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"but.. can it be eaten?"
Yes. Many wood eating fungi can be eaten [omnivorescookbook.com]. "Mu er" (wood ear) is especially popular in Chinese cuisine.
Re:Evolution of bacteria (Score:5, Funny)
When all you have is a flamethrower, everything looks like a knot.
"... it could lead to a solution..." (Score:2)
literaly a solution (Score:2)
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.
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Perfect (Score:1, Insightful)
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.
400 years per year (Score:5, Informative)
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.
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Ok, what else could we use to hold large amounts of carbon mass?
(please refrain from making tasteless 'your mom' jokes here)
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i don't think coal burning is what he was referring to.
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This could work (Score:1)
But won't we have to teach them to swim [slashdot.org] first?
Hey dinguses... (Score:5, Informative)
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But then you would end up with anti freeze which is a poison in your water supply. Plastics kill birds and fishes. Anti freeze kills humans. Which lives do you value more?
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But then you would end up with anti freeze which is a poison in your water supply. Plastics kill birds and fishes. Anti freeze kills humans. Which lives do you value more?
Cite? The article says nothing about anti-freeze (or anything like it) as a waste product.
Also, even if there are potentially-hazardous waste products, that doesn't mean it isn't a viable alternative to putting it in landfills. It depends what the waste products are and what is required to make them safe.
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Well, right now we do have the very real problem that old ink contains acids that destroy the paper instead, so which one is worse? In the end, information gets lost.
One problem: (Score:2)
Plastics aren't one substance - it is a description of a huge and diverse family of materials with some common features.
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The moth larvae can eat polyethylene per the article.
That's a large % of the plastic used.
How can they patent it? (Score:2)
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.
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You might tell that to India. Parts of traditional medicine involving plants that grow locally have been patented by US companies. India objected and was ignored.
Note that in this case neither the use nor the product were either discovered or invented by the US patent holder. Check Tree-tea oil, for one example. (Unless it's Tea-tree oil.)
I just hope... (Score:1)
But then, maybe the caterpillars would adapt, leading to a plastic pollution solution retribution evolution.
Wolf in sheep's clothing? (Score:2)