Scientists accidentally create mutant enzyme that eats plastic bottles -
Scientists have created a mutant enzyme that breaks down plastic drinks bottles – by accident. The breakthrough could help solve the global plastic pollution crisis by enabling for the first time the full recycling of bottles.
The new research was spurred by the discovery in 2016 of the first bacterium that had naturally evolved to eat plastic, at a waste dump in Japan. Scientists have now revealed the detailed structure of the crucial enzyme produced by the bug.
The international team then tweaked the enzyme to see how it had evolved, but tests showed they had inadvertently made the molecule even better at breaking down the PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic used for soft drink bottles. “What actually turned out was we improved the enzyme, which was a bit of a shock,” said Prof John McGeehan, at the University of Portsmouth, UK, who led the research. “It’s great and a real finding.”
The mutant enzyme takes a few days to start breaking down the plastic – far faster than the centuries it takes in the oceans. But the researchers are optimistic this can be speeded up even further and become a viable large-scale process.
(via Scientists accidentally create mutant enzyme that eats plastic bottles | The Guardian)
(Source: theguardian.com, via )
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SCP-1471 : MalO ver1.0.0 : Euclid
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Behind this doorway lie the terrifying and unspeakable secrets of hell. No one who sees it lives to describe it. And you shall live in darkness for all eternity.
Lucio Fulci’s THE BEYOND, the comic book series, coming soon from Eibon Press
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Dracula has risen from the grave
“Don’t let your imagination be crushed by life as a whole. Don’t try to picture everything bad that could possibly happen. Stick with the situation at hand.” — Marcus Aurelius, Meditations (8.36)
(via philosophybits)
Burnaby man alarmed at trees being ‘mowed down’ at Trans Mountain tank farm -
Sep 26, 2019 | Preissl said he has witnessed many trees being cut this week that he alleges are putting fish habitat at risk, with many other trees being marked for removal on the site.
“(Many) of the trees in Eagle Creek have been chopped down and they are still mowing down trees today,” Preissl wrote in an email on Thursday. “These riparian zones immediately adjacent to the creeks are critical for a healthy salmon and fish creek … The site is essentially one massive mud pit.”
Preissl says that with the fall rainy season arriving, these fish-bearing creeks are even more at risk due to sediment stirred up by work at the site.
Trans Mountain has told the NOW previously that the work being done has been approved and that the company is following strict standards set out in its permit.
[I]n 2018, an inspection of the tank farm found several improperly installed sediment and erosion control measures. The joint inspection included inspectors from Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), the B.C. Ministry of Environment, the National Energy Board (NEB) and the Indigenous Advisory and Monitoring Committee – a 13-member group that advises regulators and monitors the Trans Mountain project.
Inspectors found four issues with the sediment control and erosion measures:
- A sediment fence, meant to prevent particulate matter form entering a waterway, was found to be improperly keyed in along Silver Creek tributaries.
- Another sediment fence at the bottom of a hill on the east side of the property “had been inappropriately installed and failed, resulting in sedimentation into a wooded area.”
- Blankets meant to control erosion were also not installed properly along Silver Creek tributaries.
- Hydroseed – a slurry of seed and mulch – was found on top of erosion control blankets along Silver Creek tributaries.
“Please do not tell me that Trans Mountain is abiding by their strict environmental conditions and their strict sediment control plan,” Preissl wrote in his letter to the CER. “Those plans have failed miserably and completely last year and will again now.”
Here’s a purrfect graphic for #InternationalCatDay 🐈 https://ift.tt/2YTDNGm https://ift.tt/2GTNbUn
Crushing the plant(s) to death is truly how my cats love to interact with it.