Scientists Find Plastic-Eating Fungus Feasting on Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Scientists Find Plastic-Eating Fungus Feasting on Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Marine scientists discovered an ocean-borne fungus chomping through plastic trash in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/16488358
Scientists Find Plastic-Eating Fungus Feasting on Great Pacific Garbage Patch
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Sounds like great news, no?
Just as we had a time before fungus digesting plant matter, we've now had a time before fungus digesting plastics.
"Soon" we'll get bacteria and insects doing the same, and all our plastic buildings will need to be protected just as the wood ones.
Can't wait to get a fungus infection that starts eating the micro plastics in my testicles.
I guess all plastic will be biodegradable eventually.
Not really good news for the plastic that isnt waste. Plastic pipes or structures in buildings that were meant to last decades we dont want eaten away by fungus
Still it’s a positive net balance for the planet if it happens this way. But I think the “plastic safety” (in a food sense) would also end?
“The planet” doesn’t have interests so everything is neutral to the planet
Hate to break it to you, but if you store your food for years above freezing and without a protective atmosphere in a plastic container it's spoiled anyway.
To say nothing of how much cabling is covered by plastic.
Audio
Video
Vehicular
Aviation
Appliances...
...Telecommunications...
...Power...
For earth and the surviving creatures on it this is probably great news, but this is probably going to be a problem for humans in the short term. Plastic is this magic material that is immune to degradation and microbes, now that is no longer the case.
Ultimately that will be a good thing, but think about sanitized plastic medical equipment, now it can slowly be eaten up by microbes that we didn't have to worry about before.
Yup. Plastic's main selling point, it's durability, is no longer going to be a factor when choosing it as a material.