4 ms·

The boy's achievement was decomposing polyethylene. I'm not entirely sure how Nylon-eating bacteria are relevant.

• alex_stoddard 17y ago
  Indeed. To quote the more detailed original newspaper article linked from Wired: http://news.therecord.com/article/354044 http://news.therecord.com/article/354044 " A researcher in Ireland has found Pseudomonas is capable of degrading polystyrene, but as far as Burd and his teacher Mark Menhennet know -- and they've looked -- Burd's research on polyethelene plastic bags is a first."
  • biohacker42 17y ago
    They must not have looked very hard: http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=239126 http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=23...
    • Confusion 17y ago
      It's doubtful a high school student and teacher know where to look. They should have asked someone in, only remotely related, research for a quick search to dig up these kinds of papers.
      • biohacker42 17y ago
        The above link is the top search result from a search for bacteria and polyethylene: http://www.google.com/#hl=en&q=bacteria+polyethylene&btnG=Google+Search&fp=2f_dQhAPuU4 http://www.google.com/#hl=en&q=bacteria+polyethylene&#38...
    • phil 17y ago
      It's worth noting that this paper refers to polyethylene glycol, which is not the stuff plastic bags are made from. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyethylene_glycol http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyethylene_glycol