Humans produce 300 million tons of new plastic each year — yet, despite our best efforts, less than 10 percent of it ends up being recycled. Is there a better way to deal with all this waste? Morgan Vague describes her research with microbiologist Jay Mellies on bacteria that have evolved the unexpected ability to eat plastic — and how they could help us solve our growing pollution problem.
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First
Governments are backward, just like the mindsets of people (including even me). We have the immediate future in mind whilst we do not think about the long term future.
No, they’re owned by the same corporations who poison us.
we gotta have our iphones, internet and youtube videos powered right?
this was a great video but i found her point a bit vague
I find your point a bit vague
Do they have sense of taste?
They might as well eat delicious plastic.
There almost no mention of her actual research, she just about a minute and a half of her saying her bacteria eat plastic and how she wants to speed it up, the rest was just explaining we have a plastic problem and facts about bacteria. I wish she would have shown pictures, evidence or any form of progress shots of her research
She says they’re “her” bacteria, but it’s just “bacteria”. It was basically a talk about that there are already bacteria that eat plastic. Like, ok, good to know, thanks.
Old news indeed…lol 1994 to be exact. She should narrate children stories.
I think meal worms are the better solution. Then you can feed the excess to chickens.
@glamdrag Actually, if you discover a new species of bacteria, you literally get to name it after whatever you want, including yourself. That’s what the Japanese team did when they named it after their University. So this could very well be “her’s” if it truly was a novel find.
Yrs this is not new news. I heard about this about 10 years ago. Not sure what’s been happening with the research and implementation of these bacteria since then.
What do these bacteria dump after eating the plastic?
The same as a bacteria that digests glucose from other sources, it creates acidity and gaz. Nothing bad here.
Rohani if it produces CO2 then why not just burn the plastic without any middleman?
My bacteria*
@Александр Улитин There are a lot of different gaz…
We already plan to burn everything. That’s how we do. But it’s bad, and we’re bad at it, so plastics end up in the ocean.
@spaz tor Probably not
Scientist: I am really interested in your search and would like to improve on it. Can you give me the name of the bacteria you used.
Morgan Vague: My bacteria
“Pseudomonas morganensis” is one of three strains of bacteria that break down and consume PET. — https://www.wweek.com/culture/2018/07/10/a-reed-college-biology-student-discovered-plastic-eating-bacteria-after-smuggling-bags-of-dirt-through-the-houston-airport/
@Roxana Alequin She’s first author, that mean’s it’s her project and that she did most if not almost all of the work. Last author will be her advisor, and the other people are collaborators which covers a big range of possible contribution sizes.
Wondered where she got her surname?
@Karl Saltzman
“Pseudomonas morganensis” She had a bacteria named after Her.
@Adrian John I read that also…she literally just squeezed her name In there.
What is the biproduct? What do the bacteria excrete? They are taking in plastic, what is coming out? Less plastic more glass. Get to the heart of the problem.
@Александр Улитин So to you it’s OK to have plastics in oceans because “it doesn’t kill much” (pretty sure it’s false), but provoking a reaction that exists already everytime you turn a bean into a fart is horrible ?
Rohani it’s not about being ok to me, it’s a simple math of life and death. My rough estimate is that CO2 from this plastic can kill more so it’s more harm. It’s better to burry it so it will not ever end up in the air or use it as an alternative fuel than just to fart away.
Or aluminum and steel depending on application. Glass uses a lot of energy, but is a good choice in a lot of circumstances.
Actually we’re not talking about CO2 but more like methane, which can be used – and is already used – to fuel biogaz vehicles. But it is possible only because we have the infrastructures to produce and harvest it from organic waists. The idea is to do the same with plastic and I think it’s great.
Intensive livestock is much much more of a global warming problem because it really does fart the world up without any recycling of those gaz and requires a lot of industrial processes, transportations etc…
Broke To Billionaire how do you convert carbon to aluminium? That’s some advanced witchcraft
In this video, a Vague explanation. 😉
Wait for it, oh our chair in the garden is gone, eaten by bacteria… oh everything is plastic, nothing is save now.
Hopefully by creating one solution we won’t create 2 even bigger problems..
Would love to see some details.
thank you very much for sharing, certainly good idea to save our earth
this woman talks with such a patronizing that’s unbearable…can’t watch any more
I definitely agree.
“let’s get more of this bacteria! It”s the solution!”
it’s helpful, but what if we use less plastic too? don’t buy products with plastic, companies won’t use it anymore because their products won’t sell, demand them to stop, start by yourself
x1.25 speed, thank me later
x1.5 for me
@David Robert yea, still better than original
Forget the vague explanation, the whole speech seems to be some kind of artificial, including her laugh. I’m not criticizing her. This might be due to her nervousness to face such a big audience. This happens to me everytime I try something on a stage.
My God I cringed through the whole thing. Vague and patronising.
Vague is her last name
If it produces CO2 then why not just burn the plastic without any middleman? And use it as an energy source at the powerplant. Like they already do in Norway.