6 ms·

That’s probably not possible for the same reason that we don’t get bacteria resistant to things like ethanol and bleach. https://ehs.weill.cornell.edu/pathogen

That’s probably not possible for the same reason that we don’t get bacteria resistant to things like ethanol and bleach. https://ehs.weill.cornell.edu/pathogen-resistance-and-disinfectants https://ehs.weill.cornell.edu/pathogen-resistance-and-disinf...

ulrikrasmussen 2y ago
Are you sure? This article claims that we are seeing bacteria evolve to better tolerate alcohols: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322646#Alcohol-resistant-bacteria https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322646#Alcohol-res...
- throwup238 2y ago
  The paper is titled ” Increasing tolerance of hospital Enterococcus faecium to _handwash_ alcohols” [1]. They’re tolerating small concentrations of alcohol used in hand sanitizer, not a concentrated disinfectant. [1] https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scitranslmed.aar6115 https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scitranslmed.aar6115
  - realharo 2y ago
    The concentration of alcohol in hand sanitizers is like 70%, not small.
  - Mistletoe 2y ago
    Thank you for the interesting article! The response letter at the bottom- “Is the effectiveness of alcohol-based handrubs against enterococci really compromised?” by INGEBORG SCHWEBKE has some interesting counterpoints and implies they used 23% isopropanol instead of 70%, which is not enough to sterilize.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
notamy 2y ago
> bacteria resistant to things like [...] bleach. About that... https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.001418 https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/micro/1...
- throwup238 2y ago
  Endospores are a reduced form of the bacteria meant to survive extreme conditions, but they’re not the bacteria itself. Once the spore is reactivated and the outer protective shell is lost, it becomes just as vulnerable to bleach as any other bacteria.
mistercow 2y ago
Laser resistance can take a lot of forms. In the case of weeds, I’d bet that cat briers are already effectively laser proof. You can burn them down, but they send off shoots and store up massive amounts of energy in fragmented little potatoes. Miss any of them, and they come back up and keep going. So that’s one solution, and it’s a big space for biology to play in. The bigger question will probably be whether or not there’s a route where weeds can make incremental progress toward better resistance from where they are right now. For insects, as someone else pointed out, the easiest route is probably mimicry. But we might also see insects capable of recognizing the laser bots, noticing the chemical signals of burning bugs, etc.

ulrikrasmussen 2y ago

Are you sure? This article claims that we are seeing bacteria evolve to better tolerate alcohols: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322646#Alcohol-resistant-bacteria https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322646#Alcohol-res...

throwup238 2y ago
The paper is titled ” Increasing tolerance of hospital Enterococcus faecium to _handwash_ alcohols” [1]. They’re tolerating small concentrations of alcohol used in hand sanitizer, not a concentrated disinfectant. [1] https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scitranslmed.aar6115 https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scitranslmed.aar6115
- realharo 2y ago
  The concentration of alcohol in hand sanitizers is like 70%, not small.
- Mistletoe 2y ago
  Thank you for the interesting article! The response letter at the bottom- “Is the effectiveness of alcohol-based handrubs against enterococci really compromised?” by INGEBORG SCHWEBKE has some interesting counterpoints and implies they used 23% isopropanol instead of 70%, which is not enough to sterilize.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

notamy 2y ago

> bacteria resistant to things like [...] bleach. About that... https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.001418 https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/micro/1...

throwup238 2y ago
Endospores are a reduced form of the bacteria meant to survive extreme conditions, but they’re not the bacteria itself. Once the spore is reactivated and the outer protective shell is lost, it becomes just as vulnerable to bleach as any other bacteria.

mistercow 2y ago

Laser resistance can take a lot of forms. In the case of weeds, I’d bet that cat briers are already effectively laser proof. You can burn them down, but they send off shoots and store up massive amounts of energy in fragmented little potatoes. Miss any of them, and they come back up and keep going. So that’s one solution, and it’s a big space for biology to play in. The bigger question will probably be whether or not there’s a route where weeds can make incremental progress toward better resistance from where they are right now. For insects, as someone else pointed out, the easiest route is probably mimicry. But we might also see insects capable of recognizing the laser bots, noticing the chemical signals of burning bugs, etc.