Plastic eating enzymes just got even better! New breakthrough.

[@tomarmstrong1281]

Hats off to this man - he does valuable work.

[@JustHaveaThink]

Cheers Tom. Much appreciated

[@pastorpresent1]

Insightful, concise, with some human warmth added in. What a terrific combination!

[@JustHaveaThink]

Thank you sir. Much appreciated :-)

[@acasccseea4434]

most of all, well researched and from reputable sources. there's no point listening to green spam.

[@cycloneranger5354]

Exactly, straight to the point I love this channel

[@choosecarefully408]

Yep. I now have the plot to my dystopian future novel ready to go! "The plastic-eating enzymes first got loose from a lab in '_____.' The first disasters occurred when a plane fell out of the sky..."

[@rklauco]

I can't help but feel optimistic after watching this one. This is great progress, lots of tedious work behind, but great achievement. Thanks for sharing this.

[@JustHaveaThink]

Cheers Robert. Much appreciated

[@mmaaddict78]

So long as these enzymes don’t have any as of yet unforeseen consequences, such as dissolving the entire planet lol. I’m exaggerating of course, but things like this tend to create other issues.

[@jhde9067]

@@mmaaddict78 exactly! You suddenly feel optimistic but you stop yourself thinking, it's too easy. What's the draw back? And suddenly you feel uneasy.

[@calebmauer1751]

@@mmaaddict78 Drawbacks would likely be economic in nature, like it's expensive to make the enzyme, or it takes forever to work so you need lots of space and time, things like that. Not necessarily insurmountable though.

[@SaveMoneySavethePlanet]

It really is amazing. I had no idea that they had progressed so far in just 2 years!

[@The_BeeBopper]

An interesting diversion, is that one of the first indications that nature could break down plastics, was from beekeepers. Greater wax moth invades weaker Honeybee hives and lays hundreds of eggs on the beeswax comb. The hatched moth larvae burrow into the comb and eat the beeswax, growing bee larvae and honey at an alarming rate and can destroy a entire hive in weeks. When beekeepers started switching over to better insulated polystyrene based hives, we noticed how the moth larvae also had no problems also burrowing and eating their way through the 3-4cm of solid polystyrene hive walls as well as the plastic bags we sometime use to contain winter sugar candy feeds. They can be a real pest! I think one of the first indications in the sceince world was when a group of Japanese researchers collected a number of wax moth larvae in a plastic bag only to have them escape over the weekend when they eat their way throgh the bag! They looked into what was going on and discovered the digestive enzymes in the wax moth larvae could digest plastics and that seems to have set off this whole chain of research.

[@SToNeOwNz]

That is interesting, i recall hearing that a beetle larvae could break down polystyrene quickly but most of it is converted to CO2 by their gut flora. better than plastic I suppose. i do wonder how much carbon we have that is sequestered in plastics globally that might suddenly be released if a pestilent species were to acquire these genes. A similar situation happened in earths history when fungi figured out how to process lignin in trees.it was a time when the air was very oxygen rich and the insects grew huge by todays standard.

[@ejbh3160]

I was a co-founder of a recycling firm in the 1980s - unfortunately councils didn't want to go the way I would have preferred. Back in those days everything went in black bins, food, metal, plastic - everything. At that stage I believed the best way to handle large amounts of this waste would have been to really push the bio-waste separation and let everything 'dry' go in the black bags. Then those black bags could be mechanically & hand sorted (even back in the 80s before scanners and more sophisticated identifying tech was available most dry waste could be mechanically separated). The separated bio waste could be anaerobically digested making biogas (methane) and food grade co2 and the 'digestate' is a fertiliser rich in NPK... the biogas could even power the lorries doing the recycling collections. Plastic has always been the difficult one to recycle because the value is not great and new plastic can be made cheaply. Perhaps what is needed is a carbon/environmental tax on new plastic, to encourage the reuse and recycling of plastics - sadly the plastic industry plans to double its output in the next 20 years.

[@jamesmorton7881]

The mfgs chose not to accept the cost of recycling ( more profits ), major failure allowing them to push that magnified cost onto consumers. Banks make nothing, but profits. unproductive and unearned income to boot.

[@incognitotorpedo42]

@@jamesmorton7881 Banks provide a service. They provide a place to safely store your money, checking and credit card services, and they provide loans. That's not nothing. Hospitals and schools don't make stuff either they provide services.

[@TheBooban]

Incineration is the best second use for plastics. And anything else. I don’t understand countries that use landfills.

[@MirrimBlackfox]

@@TheBooban So you enjoy breathing in waist products? Because all those chemicals go into the air when something is burned.

[@TheBooban]

@@MirrimBlackfox in your back yard yeah. At a proper incinerator, not that junk you have in the US and UK, but like Sweden and Singapore, all the poisons are captured or, you know, incinerated till they are gone. All that crap is burned, nothing but healthy black ash left.

[@faithce4936]

Very amazing, thanks for “breaking down” this dense material for all of us. I for one don’t want micro plastics in my lungs so I hope this goes a long way!

[@aryaalessia4492]

It’s already inside of your bloodstream 🤣

[@Kevin_Street]

Thank you for this followup video. It's really interesting to see how some of the technologies you've discussed earlier are progressing, and in particular it's good to see how plastic-eating enzymes have come along. Letting nature itself do the heavy design work and then improving the results with science seems to be a pretty productive strategy. It makes sense that the original bacteria would have a way to deal with the byproducts like TPA.

[@JustHaveaThink]

Thanks Kevin. I agree - the more we can learn from nature, the better.

[@qwcew]

If I had to take a guess at how they made the name, sakaiensis is derived from Sakai the city where the bacterium was originally isolated from; Ideonella is derived from Ideon which is the name of the titular mecha from Space Runaway Ideon which is known for destroying a lot of things.

[@gregbailey45]

Thanks! I'll hang onto that titbit for my next Trivial Pursuit outing!

[@JimJohnson777]

I highly recommend Richard Heinberg’s recent book “Power”, Which brilliantly describes the world’s problem of long-term sustainability, and in turn highlights the potential importance of technologies like this.

[@jamespardue3055]

"Sustainability" has long been, at best, ignored by industry, and at worst considered a dirty word to be ridiculed as "Eco-Terrorist Lingo". Thanks for the reference, will check it out.

[@biodiversityfanatic2454]

@@jamespardue3055 "eco-terrorism" is when you have the audacity to protect the world from ecocide.

[@williamholmes7529]

Nice one, big shout out to researchers looking to improve the lives of all creatures on the planet. And also to you Dave for another well presented video detailing their exploits 🙏

[@JustHaveaThink]

Thanks William. Much appreciated.

[@Noisy_Cricket]

This just made my day that much better! Thanks to you and to the scientists who worked on this!

[@JustHaveaThink]

Glad you liked it :-)

[@AntManBee19]

I haven’t looked through all your videos so I might have missed it but a huge issue it seems to me in the plastic recycle world is the number of plastics. Here near Chicago I live in a community that tries to instruct residents on how to recycle household packaging. There is a labeling system on plastics usually from 1-6 that tries to ID the plastic and how you can or can not recycle it. This is usually at a designated drop off if the plastic is something other than plastic pop bottles etc. it’s incredibly frustrating and confusing and if you just decide to not separate plastics you run the risk of contaminating (too many different types) the mix at the drop off point with the result the drop off might be closed. So hopefully we can get these plastic munching enzymes on the job asap and not see the idea just disappear. Another gripe I have is: Have tried purchasing solar panels recently?? Hard to find. Expensive. Usually have to buy in bulk. Big supply chain issues. I don’t need many so I may just buy a couple from Amazon but it’s like buying lumber.

[@SaveMoneySavethePlanet]

The amount of plastics is definitely an issue, but this is still important because PET is one of the most common. It’s pretty much the most commonly plastic used in the food and drug industry. I’m also assuming that finding this and working out the kinks for PET will expedite scientists being able to find tweaks that they can do for other common plastics like PP, PE, PC, and PS. We definitely need to trim down the types of plastics we use though…

[@orionx79]

Love the way you look at the study itself then translate it while stating both. I'm now subscribed and liking your vids.

[@leoclark5831]

This is an AMAZING update...even better plastic eating enzymes...AWESOME Plastic in people's lungs? NOT OKAY

[@timclifford8809]

What remarkable ingenuity! Hats off to all involved.

[@MrFmiller]

Sounds great. I hope mass production doesn’t have it’s own unintended consequences. A large concentration of the bacteria or enzyme that consumes plastics in the environment might adapt to eating propeller seals, well seals, plastic components, paints, and any number of unforeseen objects. Things don’t always go as intended.

[@gazzas123]

Mutant 59 a tv show just remember what it did.

[@peterbarlow8912]

The book and movie Andromeda Strain. What if it gets loose and eats critical durable goods. Reduce reuse recycle

[@GreenJimll]

I once had to go into a derelict, decommissioned lab as part of my then networking job. On the door to one part of the lab was an old sign that said something like "Warning: Methane Eating Microbes. Access only for Dr Chandra." I often wonder what happened to those microbes, or if it was some sort of researcher in joke.

[@LuaanTi]

That's the tricky part, isn't it? A big part of why we use plastics in the first place is their durability, including against bacteria. And unlike materials like glass, that isn't because they're at the bottom of the energy well - quite the opposite, they are quite good sources of energy... if something "figures out" how to break those chains. Sooner or later, with or without our help, that's going to happen (as it indeed happened with pretty much all the "inaccessible" sources of energy in the world, though it can of course take a very long time).

[@LuaanTi]

@grindupBaker Heh, that's actually a good example of the same core problem poisoning everything - extremely poor management culture.

[@rockman531]

Fantastic information!! Thank you for all your research (& good chuckles) every week! Love your channel!! Jim in Phoenix, AZ.

[@JustHaveaThink]

Cheers Jim. Much appreciated :-)

[@benmcreynolds8581]

This is awesome and the exact direction they should be going because working with Nature to harness Nature is the best approach 👍

[@whidbeyweather3116]

Tons of great information on your Channel!

[@recordkeeper4761]

It's aways nice to hear that we are making progress

[@peterjaniceforan3080]

Thank you for presenting clearly.

[@erikcomtois2492]

Great story. Thanks for the following up.

[@josemilian4167]

love the progress being made.

[@richardgoldsmith7278]

A step towards truly closed loop materials cycles where nothing is “Waste” and sustainability moves closer to our planet’s best examples of enrichment or greening.

[@richardgoldsmith7278]

@Just Hαve α Think’s▫️ reported scam.

[@slartibartfast7921]

Fantastic. Amazing work as always and infinite props to the scientists working in this 🙏🏻

[@josefafloresaraya]

Thanks! This make me feel less depressive!

[@roadgoeseveron7128]

the knowledge i gain from this channel always gives me a tiny little bit of hope... rare these days

[@gloriakalcic135]

Really good video and a very warm voice. I would like to be able to help with these researches. Thank you ❤

[@davitdavid7165]

A sequal to the video i found this channel through. And a worthy one.

[@shararham81ify]

Thanks for the positive news.

[@puntuated]

I do enjoy but also learn a great deal from your summaries. Please keep it up. By the way, I preferred the previous red/orange logo used in the intro, I always thought it was very much more impressive than most used on KZbin.

[@JustHaveaThink]

Thanks for your feedback. I guess it was inevitable that not everyone would like the new logo. I changed it because of feedback saying that the wording was not clear enough.

[@PhotonFlightTeam]

informative as always........but humor is absolutely tops! delight to view your work, always.

[@JustHaveaThink]

Cheers. I appreciate your feedback :-)

[@jimurrata6785]

While it's great to see progress made breaking down plastics, the scale of the 'problem' seems overlooked. PET is one of the few plastics that we seem pretty good at recycling. While I'm not so sure how much value there is in flooding the market with ethylene glycol. Will watch with interest to see if and how this enzyme is modified to reduce other polymers.

[@emmabird9745]

I don't know about 'flooding the market' with ethylene glycol but I can see two good uses for it in 'saving the planet'. 1. As an antifreeze/working fluid in heat pumps which need to work in sub zero conditions. 2. As a heat storage medium/working fluid in solar heating hot water storage systems. It has the obvious antifreeze property and, I believe (correct me if I'm wrong), it has a higher thermal capacity than water. Either way I agree with you its great to see progress on solutions.

[@jimurrata6785]

@@emmabird9745 I'd like to see POLYethylene glycol used as it's not nearly as toxic. While pure water has more capacity to carry heat (volume to volume) ethylene glycol raises the boiling point beyond what your pressure cap might suggest. Add to this that glycol based antifreeze lubricates seals, inhibits corrosion and keeps anything from growing as advantages. I still wouldn't want hundreds of gallons of it circulating in my backyard or on my roof.

[@gregbailey45]

Hopefully, ethylene glycol is a good feedstock for more valuable products. Maybe even plastic!

[@jimurrata6785]

@@gregbailey45 😉. 🤣🤣🤣

[@emmabird9745]

@@jimurrata6785 First of all thanks for the correction viz a viz thermal capacity. Yes it has a higher boiling point than water but that is unlikely to be important in a heat storage application. I agree toxic chemicals are not a good idea. I would not advocate producing the stuff from virgin chemicals, however I was looking for a use for a biproduct that, given the ammount of plastic to deal with, we will have a lot of. I think your suggestion of polyethelene glycol looks a good use for it given ethelene glycol is a feed stock. Not being a chemist I was previously unaware of it, Thanks for the education.

[@jamessellards7157]

I love the info on your videos, it's always explained in a very interesting way. Love the channel!!!!!!!

[@JustHaveaThink]

Cheers James. Much appreciated :-)

[@philiporeillycork]

Only just found this channel. Great videos and really informative!

[@buddypvaz124]

I do enjoy having a think.

[@alfredotto7525]

Love your channel.

[@global_nomad.]

thanks for the update on the development of this tech...hope it becomes viable at a commercial scale asap

[@SaveMoneySavethePlanet]

Yea, I’m also hoping that we hear word on commercialization in the next year or two.

[@jefflappin]

There was a Canadian kid that discovered a microbe that ate plastic back 2008 too. Looks like exciting progress!

[@timmurphy5541]

What concerns me is: lets say a bacteria could chomp plastic: wouldn't that make plastic largely useless? Any contamination from it would finish off the shelf-life enhancement that we use plastics for?

[@brianfretwell3886]

Yes, don't spill any on an aircraft as in the Doomwatch episode "The Plastic Eaters" from the 1970's.

[@carlpodrecca5177]

Gee how you been using that plastic in your lungs? Been working out good for ya huh?

[@mill2712]

That could be a possibility. Hopefully advances in material science could help with the creation of a new replacement with less impact to the environment.

[@canberk1667]

Exactly!

[@TaiViinikka]

Well, the bacteria have already occurred naturally, so that cat is out of the bag. It seems like research is focused on artificial systems that use the enzyme alone, which is much safer. Enzymes can't reproduce, and don't last in the environment; they are just well-designed proteins.

[@armatagejohn]

Very interesting, thanks.

[@c62west]

Awesome topic. Thanks.

[@keithaumann8183]

This is excellent news! We are growing our capabilities to re-use our waste.

[@thewatersavior]

Diapers in a dump seem like the ultimate petri dish... Or at least the ultimate naming opportunity

[@pw4721]

Only just discovered this channel. After watching just the latest video and now this video about plastic munching microbes, I feel a renewed sense of optimism about our future. We still need to clean up mankind's act, find alternative means of power etc etc....and whilst we can't just sit back and rely on science to get us out of the mess we have created, science and the benefits it can bring to our lives and to the planet are amazing. I struggle to fully understand some of the science behind the plastic eating microbes, but it does appear to be amazing. We need to lobby governments and private funding sources to invest in this and other technology....just think if the all countries of the world just for one year spent nothing on weapons and instead invested the money in science what amazing advances could be made. I know it's not that easy....but just think if we could!! Thanks to 'Just Have a Think' ...will be watching all your videos.

[@jambay4785]

For those that are interested, way back in the 60's/70's there was a comic magazine, Green Arrow and Green Lantern, that was about an alien invasion that was polluting the world so they could thrive here, and yes there was the DC version too. I do hope we can control and adapt to our life on this planet.

[@Adam_Bosscoe]

So what you're saying is if we keep looking for solutions to problems, there's a chance we'll find that and more? I agree and couldn't be happier! 🙌

[@Nightowl5454]

Your channel is growing super fast!😁

[@JustHaveaThink]

Thanks Bryan :-)

[@tedbomba6631]

Excellent video that offers us some hopeful information about how we might begin to solve the plastic pollution problem.

[@anders21karlsson]

Great video as always.

[@JustHaveaThink]

Thank you :-)

[@diegoayala11]

Excellent ~ thanks!

[@NicolasMendoula]

That's awesome !

[@mattstirling7494]

Genuinely impressed by the quality, breadth and humour of your work. I love how you treat your audience like intelligent adults. Bravo!

[@nathanielblair6466]

wow! go you! you're doing great!

[@danellerbe1521]

WooHoo Dave!! I love you Man! I never miss your episodes-

[@JustHaveaThink]

Cheers Dan. Much appreciated :-)

[@martincotterill823]

You give me hope, Dave

[@JustHaveaThink]

Cheers Martin :-)

[@DrJaxonsElixirOfLife]

Thanx Dave. Good to get an update on a very interesting topic..!

[@JustHaveaThink]

Glad you enjoyed it :-)

[@DrJaxonsElixirOfLife]

@@JustHaveaThink I enjoy every one of them! I don't always comment though. I have said before that I often use your videos in order to help inform and encourage other people. Thanx for your time and effort it is well worth it!!!

[@fawazr]

The hoops we'll jump through to ensure the continued success of the plastics industry.

[@meoff7602]

Well of course. It's an endless supply of construction materials. Even if we runout of crude oil. There is always vegetable oil. Granted the last one is whole another problem that would need to be solved.

[@rawberto8282]

There is hope for humanity. Many thanks for translating this informaton to us humble peons.

[@rzquasar]

Excellent thanks

[@richardboland1935]

Microplastics found in human lungs? I'm not the least bit surprised... Love the plastic chomping research summary, David!

[@jonathanstewart351]

This is great news!!

[@Erbmon]

This reminds me of a documentary on mushroms, wood does not decompose on it's own for centuries it just piled up, then a mushroom evolved a bacteria that was able to decompose wood. There is no question that live will live on, the question is if humans will survive to observe it.

[@davedsmith86]

For what it's worth, the building blocks for PET are TPA and ethylene glycol i.e. without further conversion (as shown in this video) TPA can still be used for the manufacture of new PET

[@Johntana96]

Montana State kicks ass at engineering and science! Way cool so see it publishing some amazing scientific papers!

[@valoric4767]

Love news about this. Hope it gets utilised ASAP.

[@onebylandtwoifbysearunifby5475]

Enzymes are amazing! I took 3 years of organic chemistry, and i wouldn't even know where to begin replicating what they do. (I was also not very good at organic chemistry... But none the less...)

[@peteglass3496]

There was quite an interesting discussion of a paper on this topic on "This Week in Microbiology" TWiM 257 in Jan 2022 on prof. Vincent Racaniello's KZbin channel (audio only) and standard audio podcast. It was a big data trawl for plastic eating enzymes in the environment at large. 2nd paper discussed after phages, I think open access. Also further discussion on nanoplastics in food - prepare to be shocked...

[@JustHaveaThink]

Thanks Pete. I'll look that up

[@peteglass3496]

@@JustHaveaThink thanks for the name check - these 18months+ I've been watching prof. Vincent's Virology course and his science discussions between my normal EV viewing habits and channels like yours. :)

[@spencerbardell]

Good show!

[@JustHaveaThink]

Thanks Spencer :-)

[@anirbanpatra3017]

Your Contet is fantastic.

[@lesterweinheimer665]

Thanks that gives me hope that science will come to the rescue and save mankind. I was beginning To wonder if there was still reason to Hope.THANK-YOU!

[@JustHaveaThink]

Thanks Lester. Stay hopeful :-)

[@robertdem259]

Such a great video! I'm actually currently working with the mutated PETase and a bunch of cutinases. My lab is trying to develop an assay to allow for high throughput testing of larger libraries of mutants for these enzymes to accelerate their development. Also trying to understand how they bind and access these bonds on the highly crystalline plastic surface, to be able to apply this to other enzymes.

[@vulcan4d]

Nature always has to find a solution. Man only finds a solution if it makes money.

[@obiwanbenobi4943]

Good to hear. :) Hope they don't let any genies out of the bottle...

[@-LightningRod-]

im not sure, ..but that sounds like good information and reflexively i am recoiling for the backslap.

[@rlsearch1]

Dave, as I have said before, you have a wonderful gift for 'dumbing down' brain numbing topics, so that a numpty like myself can get my single brain cell to rap itself around otherwise incomprehensibly complex subjects, no matter how important they are to my future. At the same time, I find myself chuckling out loud at your wonderful dry, often self-deprecating humour, -unbelievable and thank you for allowing me a glimpse into such important facets of science and technology, which I would otherwise be exempt from - keep up the wonderful work Dave👍😂👌

[@user-cc8kb]

Great! I love positive breakthrough videos! :D

[@JustHaveaThink]

Glad you like them!

[@geraldbull9272]

Very good presenter.

[@gefginn3699]

Great post my friend. I always enjoy your style of presentation. Stay free, happy and healthy ✨️

[@JustHaveaThink]

Cheers Gef. You too :-)

[@BruininksBart]

Really enjoyed thanks! Small note, there is a representation error of the DCD molecule (5:30). It is indicated as being aromatic (dotted ring), but it is not.

[@Vexed09]

Great vid!

[@ricoremo9667]

There is an enzyme discovered from the sap of the banana tree that can “eat” the plastic Coca-cola bottle. This was discovered by Dr. Serafin Riosa of the DOST during the Marcos years. This enzyme is still being used today in the Philippines as a disinfectant and odor remover in waste products…

[@robertwebber7633]

I would like to see some of the outtakes of you trying to get your tounge about some of these words. I bet there are several laughs from some videos. Thank you so much for the channel because a lot of us take strength from the data we would otherwise never hear of.

[@cycloneranger5354]

Could not disagree with you more about the "dreaded youtube algorithm". It has got to be one of the greatest things about the internet.

[@billradford2128]

This channel is one of the best out there as it strives to help us solve mankind's catastrophes. Thank you. The subject today reminded me of a sci-fi novel I read 5- or 60 years ago (I was a kid) where someone discovered a bacteria that consumed plastics. The scientists worked on it in the UK to make it 'better' and succeeded in making it 'go viral' so to speak and it escaped into the environment. One of the scientists fled to the USA with something that might help bring it under control but halfway across the Atlantic noticed his briefcase was dissolving on his lap! End of book! That book predated DNA manipulation or decoding as well as the internet and so much else, so I will not be loosing any sleep at all that life may imitate sci-fi art!

[@JustHaveaThink]

Hi Bill. Thanks for your feedback. A lot of folks in the comments seem to be worried about that kind of dystopian future, but I think this will be an otherwise benign product that can be well controlled in lab or factory conditions.

[@mikemccarthy1638]

Wow!! That one reminds me of “Ice-Nine”. “And so it goes…”

[@harveytheparaglidingchaser7039]

Another brilliant upswing in the rollercoaster of doom and hope.

[@kevinjpluck]

Be great to have an explanation of the practicalities these enzymes would need to do their job. Can you just dump bottles in a vat? Would they need to be really clean / ground up / just PET or would other plastic inclusions mess with the process? How often would the enzyme solution need to be replaced? Thank you for these superb videos!

[@SaveMoneySavethePlanet]

Based on how far they’ve gone in two years, I’m wondering if we might have the answers to those questions in just another year or two.

[@KimiPersonal]

This is so exciting! I love hearing you share complex science! Great job as always! Thank you!

[@JustHaveaThink]

Thanks Kimi. Much appreciated :-)

[@hendrienel2259]

Thankyou

[@dprcontracting6299]

Nice one Dave. Another topical, easy to understand and informative vid. I even felt my depression about what us humans are doing to our home lift for a while. Keep up the good work.

[@JustHaveaThink]

Cheers. I appreciate your feedback :-)

[@scottkidder9046]

There should at least be a tax or a lack of subsidies on non-recyclable plastic. I don’t understand how we keep making non-recyclable plastic. Only thing I can think of is that it’s cheaper and/or it’s necessary to use a specific type of plastic for a specific use-case. But I don’t see why most plastic can’t be recyclable. As for the science, bravo!! This kind of innovation is exactly what we need. If someone can make it profitable to recycle, we are in business!! Problem solved.

[@LuaanTi]

PVC is a good example - it has been widely phased out, outside of the uses where it's actually kind of critical - like flooring or water pipes. If the corporations don't get too much power, it eventually works out (whether that's fast enough is a tougher nut to crack; but then again, we shouldn't forget that all of those things we're talking about have both negatives and positives - that's why we started doing them in the first place, though sadly, there are many exceptions, especially coming from USA, right, Listerine? :P). The problem has always been with concentrating power, whether in private or public hands.

[@WirelessGriff]

Great Stuff Dave. Thanks for making sense of some of the impenetrable scientific terms (and that comes from someone with a scientific degree :-/ ). I can’t add to the dialogue but I believe that leaving comments here also helps to promote the channel on the You Tube algorithm, hence my comments here.

[@JustHaveaThink]

Cheers Hugh. Much appreciated :-)

[@vaels5682]

I barely understand this chemistry at even a basic level, but every time I learn about an accomplishment like this in the field it blows my mind. I hope they can make sure that this won't have unforseen side effects on natural environments. I suppose it couldn't be worse than the plastic waste is already doing.

[@MaryAnnNytowl]

I'm extremely glad they're working on making that genetic hiccup that let a bacteria eat plastics even better! The random plastics building up in our environment has been worrying - almost panicking - me for quite awhile. So learning that something really is being done to help the situation helps, at least a little!

[@gamehacker2801]

I like the old logo. Red attracts attention.

[@marlinmixon3004]

I wonder about the toxicity of PETase and whether or not it could be used in drug form to eliminate plastic particles from humans?

[@adamrak7560]

The immune system will detect it as a foreign protein and attack it very fast. Making it human compatible is extremely difficult, because the immune system is very picky about a protein in blood plasma. Currently not even synthetic antibodies are truly human compatible, so you have to use immunosuppressants to protect them.

[@ThatOneScienceGuy]

Very nice

[@unvergebeneid]

This sounds promising but I wonder if PET might be the low-hanging fruit in terms of how easy it is to metabolise. I just looked up some numbers and found that only about 6.7% of plastics produced are PET. And PET recycling is actually among the best already :/

[@DRakeTRofKBam]

It may be a low hanging fruit, but itll serve as the basis to tackle other plastics as well, not to mention that we could end up having a basis for engineering other plastic enzymes in the future

[@unvergebeneid]

@@DRakeTRofKBam I am not an organic chemist but my understanding is that especially polymers containing halogens like PVC are a completely different beast.

[@adamrak7560]

@@unvergebeneid exactly. - PET is one of the easiest because it is a polyester. Nature has lots of experience about breaking the ester bond (no need to add energy, just add water and an enzyme). - Polyethylene or propylene are pure carbon chains. Breaking a carbon-carbon bond inside a carbon chain without relying on any tricks (like double bonds, hydroxy side chains, etc..) is very difficult. - PVC uses a carbon chain, but some hydrogens were replaced with a chlorine atom. Breaking the carbon-carbon bonds should not be more difficult compared to PE or PP, but you can accidentally make very toxic halogenic carbon compounds. (almost all small halocarbons are highly toxic!) So for PVC you need to either remove the chlorine from the carbon, which is quite difficult, or convert it into a harmless molecule, which is almost impossible.

[@unvergebeneid]

@@adamrak7560 thanks for the insight, depressing as it might be!

[@joemerino3243]

@@unvergebeneid It's only depressing if you want your water pipes to start rotting in the ground, while dumping toxic halocarbons into your water supply.

[@pauleohl]

I would think that microplastics in lungs were breathed in from dust created when plastic is cut or little bits worn off when plastic is handled and not from plastic already in the landfill or floating around in the ocean. I do appreciate that fish can get microplastics in their gills and possibly even in their blood and tissues from bits worn off from plastic polluting the oceans.

[@Bareego]

Not sure it counts as plastic, but I would assume that wear on tires and shoe soles makes a large part of the microplastics

[@agw5425]

I wonder if those bacteria are safe to ingest and if they can brake down plastics already in our bodies if that would have any health benefits at all that is. Perhaps this should be a recurring topic on a regular basis.

[@epicpwn15000]

I think we will have to flush it out with non plastic food and water. Our bodies will kill the bacteria.

[@Kevin_Street]

Even if they're safe to ingest our immune systems will still hunt them down and eliminate them. That and other problems (like the need for additional buffering agents to speed up the reaction, and the problem that the main byproduct of one enzyme is antifreeze) would pretty much rule out the use of this process in living creatures. I'm not really sure what can be done about microplastics that are in our tissues, but frequent blood donations could reduce the level of plastics (and other forever chemicals) in our blood. Maybe that could be a solution?

[@agw5425]

@@Kevin_Street It would have to be a modified version that do not cause worse side effects than it cures. Can the micro plastics be filtered out of the blod or how would donations help?

[@LuaanTi]

Your body is generally pretty good at fending off assaults by alien bacteria and enzymes. And keep in mind that this is just _one_ enzyme in the chemical repertoire of the bacterium - they're still perfectly capable of eating everything other than plastic in your body ;)