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Anyone else concerned that by helping this new bacteria thrive it will set off a series of unforeseen side effects?

wyldfire 11y ago
My username is a reference to Project Wildfire from "The Andromeda Strain". In the novel, Andromeda mutates into something that can consume rubber -- the same materials used throughout the world as seals against contagion. So, yeah, if life imitates art it could get pretty interesting.
- CamperBob2 11y ago
  Can't forget this classic work of speculative fiction either: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2368220.Mutant_59 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2368220.Mutant_59 In the Coburg Street control room of the London Underground system, there was a full emergency... In a dozen tunnels, trains ground down to a halt. Hordes of terrified commuters made their way anxiously along dark, musty tunnels to the lights and safety of the next station. There were minor explosions, fires, and the failure of a million wires and cables. As the dissolution of plastic proceeded and accelerated in rate, the elegant order of the system gradually turned into complete chaos...
  - Turing_Machine 11y ago
    I'm glad I'm not the only person who remembers that one.
logfromblammo 11y ago
Very much so. One of the things that makes plastics so useful is their tendency to not rot away in certain environmental conditions.
Grue3 11y ago
We just need a bacteria that eats the plastic-eating bacteria.
swe 11y ago
Horizontal gene transfer is one of the issues brought up by researchers who discovered the plastic eating fungus Pestalotiopsis Microspora
restalis 11y ago
What are you talking about? So far this was just a discovery of an already existing bacterium. They identified it and studied it a little bit. I find no plans for "helping this new bacteria thrive" anywhere in the article.
karmajunkie 11y ago
I just finished reading Ringworld for the first time and had exactly the same thought.

My username is a reference to Project Wildfire from "The Andromeda Strain". In the novel, Andromeda mutates into something that can consume rubber -- the same materials used throughout the world as seals against contagion. So, yeah, if life imitates art it could get pretty interesting.

CamperBob2 11y ago
Can't forget this classic work of speculative fiction either: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2368220.Mutant_59 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2368220.Mutant_59 In the Coburg Street control room of the London Underground system, there was a full emergency... In a dozen tunnels, trains ground down to a halt. Hordes of terrified commuters made their way anxiously along dark, musty tunnels to the lights and safety of the next station. There were minor explosions, fires, and the failure of a million wires and cables. As the dissolution of plastic proceeded and accelerated in rate, the elegant order of the system gradually turned into complete chaos...
- Turing_Machine 11y ago
  I'm glad I'm not the only person who remembers that one.

logfromblammo 11y ago

Very much so. One of the things that makes plastics so useful is their tendency to not rot away in certain environmental conditions.

Grue3 11y ago

We just need a bacteria that eats the plastic-eating bacteria.

swe 11y ago

Horizontal gene transfer is one of the issues brought up by researchers who discovered the plastic eating fungus Pestalotiopsis Microspora

restalis 11y ago

What are you talking about? So far this was just a discovery of an already existing bacterium. They identified it and studied it a little bit. I find no plans for "helping this new bacteria thrive" anywhere in the article.

karmajunkie 11y ago

I just finished reading Ringworld for the first time and had exactly the same thought.