4 ms·

I wonder if at any point, given the quantity of plastic available, organisms will evolve to consume it as food since it would be an advantage.

by badosu 7y ago

ForHackernews 7y ago
Maybe eventually https://science.sciencemag.org/content/351/6278/1196 https://science.sciencemag.org/content/351/6278/1196 Probably not soon enough to help all the creatures that don't benefit from ingesting plastic.
itsbenweeks 7y ago
I think this will definitely occur. In the same way that organisms could not work with wood fiber's lignin during the carboniferous period, we're seeing it play out in a plastic period of our own construction. The Earth will win, but whether we will see that happen depends on all of us.
- ASalazarMX 7y ago
  We just need to wait 300 million years and nature will adapt! It would be cool seeing plastics things rot, though. We're used to them being impervious.
  - core-questions 7y ago
    I think the coolness would wear off mighty quickly when your laptop starts to rot
    - tejtm 7y ago
      We will almost certainly crisper such beasts into existence and all be replaced with organisms with plastic infrastructure which existing live can't metabolize but thinks our collections of atoms are yummy building blocks.
    - ip26 7y ago
      I've been wondering if wood or some kind of injection molded cellulose product might make a comeback. Decomposing plastics would probably help spur that along.
      - Someone 7y ago
        If we really hit the end of Moore’s law, I see manufacturers embracing this. “No, that isn’t planned obsolescence; we try to be as green as possible”
    - ghostbrainalpha 7y ago
      Think about how often you replace your current laptop. Even if you are an outlier in terms of keeping tech a long time, upgrading internal components etc, there is very little chance rotting plastic will be the reason you laptop fails.
    - gamblor956 7y ago
      That explains why wood furniture begins to rot immediately instead of lasting hundreds of years and passing down through families as heirloom items... Oh wait! They use protective finishes to seal out the environment and bacteria that would eat the wood, so it doesn't go bad. They do the same with aluminum and titanium. Hell, they even do this with steel. The concept of applying a protective finish has been a solved issue for literally centuries...
  - milesvp 7y ago
    I believe I saw a reference recently saying it only took 40million years before cellulose became widespread biodegradable. I can't find a source for that number, though it looks like it might have been an MS mycology student circa 2014. http://hn.premii.com/#/article/15977640 http://hn.premii.com/#/article/15977640 I suspect plastic will take significantly less time than cellulose though. It's an amazing material, and the biodiversity of the planet (though shrinking) is still much higher than it was when cellulose began proliferating.
api 7y ago
It happened with things like lignin after their evolution in the carboniferous, but it took hundreds of millions of years. In the meantime we got a significant fraction of the Earth's fossil fuels as indigestible plant fibers were deposited and turned into rock. We're in the early anthropocene. After a few hundred million years there might be bacteria eating away at plastic waste in the abandoned basement layers of the cybernetic hybrid post-human/AI city-organism that covers most of the planet. DNA importation from off-world organisms exposed to cosmic rays might help. In the meantime there will be layers of anthropocene-specific minerals deposited just as the carboniferous left its own unique signature.
- devtul 7y ago
  They will be able to estimate the era by drilling garbage disposal sites and checking the layers of iphones. "You can see this layer of IPhone 2's here"
goddtriffin 7y ago
I wonder what potential by-products of said organism would be. ex. gases released
- JetSpiegel 7y ago
  IANAC(hemist), but plastic is a carbohydrate, so I would guess CO2, maybe methane or something like that.
ocschwar 7y ago
Already happening. There's a bacterium that's already good at living in the interface between the aluminum foil and plastic in a CD. But we can't count on it to undo the damage within our lifetimes.
nwallin 7y ago
There actually is such an organism, but it only breaks down PET. (aka polyester, which is the 4th most common type of plastic) https://www.sciencealert.com/new-plastic-munching-bacteria-could-fuel-a-recycling-revolution https://www.sciencealert.com/new-plastic-munching-bacteria-c...

I wonder if at any point, given the quantity of plastic available, organisms will evolve to consume it as food since it would be an advantage.

by badosu 7y ago

I wonder if at any point, given the quantity of plastic available, organisms will evolve to consume it as food since it would be an advantage.

ForHackernews 7y ago

Maybe eventually https://science.sciencemag.org/content/351/6278/1196 https://science.sciencemag.org/content/351/6278/1196 Probably not soon enough to help all the creatures that don't benefit from ingesting plastic.

itsbenweeks 7y ago

I think this will definitely occur. In the same way that organisms could not work with wood fiber's lignin during the carboniferous period, we're seeing it play out in a plastic period of our own construction. The Earth will win, but whether we will see that happen depends on all of us.

ASalazarMX 7y ago
We just need to wait 300 million years and nature will adapt! It would be cool seeing plastics things rot, though. We're used to them being impervious.
- core-questions 7y ago
  I think the coolness would wear off mighty quickly when your laptop starts to rot
  - tejtm 7y ago
    We will almost certainly crisper such beasts into existence and all be replaced with organisms with plastic infrastructure which existing live can't metabolize but thinks our collections of atoms are yummy building blocks.
  - ip26 7y ago
    I've been wondering if wood or some kind of injection molded cellulose product might make a comeback. Decomposing plastics would probably help spur that along.
    - Someone 7y ago
      If we really hit the end of Moore’s law, I see manufacturers embracing this. “No, that isn’t planned obsolescence; we try to be as green as possible”
  - ghostbrainalpha 7y ago
    Think about how often you replace your current laptop. Even if you are an outlier in terms of keeping tech a long time, upgrading internal components etc, there is very little chance rotting plastic will be the reason you laptop fails.
  - gamblor956 7y ago
    That explains why wood furniture begins to rot immediately instead of lasting hundreds of years and passing down through families as heirloom items... Oh wait! They use protective finishes to seal out the environment and bacteria that would eat the wood, so it doesn't go bad. They do the same with aluminum and titanium. Hell, they even do this with steel. The concept of applying a protective finish has been a solved issue for literally centuries...
- milesvp 7y ago
  I believe I saw a reference recently saying it only took 40million years before cellulose became widespread biodegradable. I can't find a source for that number, though it looks like it might have been an MS mycology student circa 2014. http://hn.premii.com/#/article/15977640 http://hn.premii.com/#/article/15977640 I suspect plastic will take significantly less time than cellulose though. It's an amazing material, and the biodiversity of the planet (though shrinking) is still much higher than it was when cellulose began proliferating.

api 7y ago

It happened with things like lignin after their evolution in the carboniferous, but it took hundreds of millions of years. In the meantime we got a significant fraction of the Earth's fossil fuels as indigestible plant fibers were deposited and turned into rock. We're in the early anthropocene. After a few hundred million years there might be bacteria eating away at plastic waste in the abandoned basement layers of the cybernetic hybrid post-human/AI city-organism that covers most of the planet. DNA importation from off-world organisms exposed to cosmic rays might help. In the meantime there will be layers of anthropocene-specific minerals deposited just as the carboniferous left its own unique signature.

devtul 7y ago
They will be able to estimate the era by drilling garbage disposal sites and checking the layers of iphones. "You can see this layer of IPhone 2's here"

goddtriffin 7y ago

I wonder what potential by-products of said organism would be. ex. gases released

JetSpiegel 7y ago
IANAC(hemist), but plastic is a carbohydrate, so I would guess CO2, maybe methane or something like that.

ocschwar 7y ago

Already happening. There's a bacterium that's already good at living in the interface between the aluminum foil and plastic in a CD. But we can't count on it to undo the damage within our lifetimes.

nwallin 7y ago

There actually is such an organism, but it only breaks down PET. (aka polyester, which is the 4th most common type of plastic) https://www.sciencealert.com/new-plastic-munching-bacteria-could-fuel-a-recycling-revolution https://www.sciencealert.com/new-plastic-munching-bacteria-c...