Plastic eating enzymes just got even better! New breakthrough.

Поделиться
HTML-код
  • Опубликовано: 23 апр 2022
  • Plastic-eating enzymes were discovered in nature several years ago and scientists having been developing them ever since. Now, a newly discovered enzyme allows them to break down PET into a chemical that can be widely used in nutrition and medicine.
    Illustration of the TPADO enzyme image credit to Rita Clare/Scivetica www.scivetica.com
    Help support this channels independence at
    / justhaveathink
    Or with a donation via Paypal by clicking here
    www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr...
    You can also help keep my brain ticking over during the long hours of research and editing via the nice folks at BuyMeACoffee.com
    www.buymeacoffee.com/justhave...
    Video Transcripts available at our website
    www.justhaveathink.com
    Interested in mastering and remembering the concepts that I present in my videos? Check out the FREE Dive Deeper mini-courses offered by the Center for Behavior and Climate. These mini-courses teach the main concepts in select JHAT videos and go beyond to help you learn additional scientific or conservation concepts. The courses are great for teachers to use or for individual learning.climatechange.behaviordevelop...
    Research Links
    Main Paper
    www.pnas.org/doi/epdf/10.1073...
    Phys.Org Article
    phys.org/news/2022-03-enzyme-...
    Microplastics in lung tissue
    phys.org/news/2022-04-micropl...
    BOTTLE Consortium
    www.bottle.org/index.html
    Centre for Enzyme Innovation
    www.port.ac.uk/research/resea...
    Montana State University
    www.montana.edu/news/21940/ms...
    Anti-carcinogens in PCA
    www.sciencedirect.com/science...
    Check out other RUclips Climate Communicators
    zentouro:
    / zentouro
    Climate Adam:
    / climateadam
    Kurtis Baute:
    / scopeofscience
    Levi Hildebrand:
    / the100lh
    Simon Clark:
    / simonoxfphys
    Sarah Karvner:
    / @sarahkarver
    Rollie Williams / ClimateTown: / @climatetown
    Jack Harries:
    / jacksgap
    Beckisphere: / @beckisphere
    Our Changing Climate :
    / @ourchangingclimate
    Engineering With Rosie
    / engineeringwithrosie
    Ella Gilbert
    / drgilbz

Комментарии • 861

  • @tomarmstrong1281
    @tomarmstrong1281 2 года назад +223

    Hats off to this man - he does valuable work.

    • @JustHaveaThink
      @JustHaveaThink  2 года назад +16

      Cheers Tom. Much appreciated

    • @grindupBaker
      @grindupBaker 2 года назад +1

      Hats off and let the True You shine out blazingly.

  • @pastorpresent1
    @pastorpresent1 2 года назад +228

    Insightful, concise, with some human warmth added in. What a terrific combination!

    • @JustHaveaThink
      @JustHaveaThink  2 года назад +14

      Thank you sir. Much appreciated :-)

    • @acasccseea4434
      @acasccseea4434 2 года назад +12

      most of all, well researched and from reputable sources.
      there's no point listening to green spam.

    • @cycloneranger5354
      @cycloneranger5354 2 года назад +5

      Exactly, straight to the point I love this channel

    • @choosecarefully408
      @choosecarefully408 2 года назад

      Yep. I now have the plot to my dystopian future novel ready to go! "The plastic-eating enzymes first got loose from a lab in '_____.' The first disasters occurred when a plane fell out of the sky..."

  • @simoncavill
    @simoncavill 2 года назад +49

    An interesting diversion, is that one of the first indications that nature could break down plastics, was from beekeepers. Greater wax moth invades weaker Honeybee hives and lays hundreds of eggs on the beeswax comb. The hatched moth larvae burrow into the comb and eat the beeswax, growing bee larvae and honey at an alarming rate and can destroy a entire hive in weeks. When beekeepers started switching over to better insulated polystyrene based hives, we noticed how the moth larvae also had no problems also burrowing and eating their way through the 3-4cm of solid polystyrene hive walls as well as the plastic bags we sometime use to contain winter sugar candy feeds. They can be a real pest!
    I think one of the first indications in the sceince world was when a group of Japanese researchers collected a number of wax moth larvae in a plastic bag only to have them escape over the weekend when they eat their way throgh the bag! They looked into what was going on and discovered the digestive enzymes in the wax moth larvae could digest plastics and that seems to have set off this whole chain of research.

    • @SToNeOwNz
      @SToNeOwNz 2 года назад +2

      That is interesting, i recall hearing that a beetle larvae could break down polystyrene quickly but most of it is converted to CO2 by their gut flora. better than plastic I suppose.
      i do wonder how much carbon we have that is sequestered in plastics globally that might suddenly be released if a pestilent species were to acquire these genes. A similar situation happened in earths history when fungi figured out how to process lignin in trees.it was a time when the air was very oxygen rich and the insects grew huge by todays standard.

  • @rklauco
    @rklauco 2 года назад +170

    I can't help but feel optimistic after watching this one. This is great progress, lots of tedious work behind, but great achievement. Thanks for sharing this.

    • @JustHaveaThink
      @JustHaveaThink  2 года назад +4

      Cheers Robert. Much appreciated

    • @mmaaddict78
      @mmaaddict78 2 года назад +2

      So long as these enzymes don’t have any as of yet unforeseen consequences, such as dissolving the entire planet lol. I’m exaggerating of course, but things like this tend to create other issues.

    • @jhde9067
      @jhde9067 2 года назад +1

      @@mmaaddict78 exactly! You suddenly feel optimistic but you stop yourself thinking, it's too easy. What's the draw back? And suddenly you feel uneasy.

    • @calebmauer1751
      @calebmauer1751 2 года назад +6

      @@mmaaddict78 Drawbacks would likely be economic in nature, like it's expensive to make the enzyme, or it takes forever to work so you need lots of space and time, things like that. Not necessarily insurmountable though.

    • @SaveMoneySavethePlanet
      @SaveMoneySavethePlanet 2 года назад +2

      It really is amazing. I had no idea that they had progressed so far in just 2 years!

  • @ejbh3160
    @ejbh3160 2 года назад +193

    I was a co-founder of a recycling firm in the 1980s - unfortunately councils didn't want to go the way I would have preferred. Back in those days everything went in black bins, food, metal, plastic - everything. At that stage I believed the best way to handle large amounts of this waste would have been to really push the bio-waste separation and let everything 'dry' go in the black bags. Then those black bags could be mechanically & hand sorted (even back in the 80s before scanners and more sophisticated identifying tech was available most dry waste could be mechanically separated).
    The separated bio waste could be anaerobically digested making biogas (methane) and food grade co2 and the 'digestate' is a fertiliser rich in NPK... the biogas could even power the lorries doing the recycling collections.
    Plastic has always been the difficult one to recycle because the value is not great and new plastic can be made cheaply. Perhaps what is needed is a carbon/environmental tax on new plastic, to encourage the reuse and recycling of plastics - sadly the plastic industry plans to double its output in the next 20 years.

    • @jamesmorton7881
      @jamesmorton7881 2 года назад +10

      The mfgs chose not to accept the cost of recycling ( more profits ), major failure allowing them to push that magnified cost onto consumers.
      Banks make nothing, but profits. unproductive and unearned income to boot.

    • @incognitotorpedo42
      @incognitotorpedo42 2 года назад +7

      @@jamesmorton7881 Banks provide a service. They provide a place to safely store your money, checking and credit card services, and they provide loans. That's not nothing. Hospitals and schools don't make stuff either they provide services.

    • @TheBooban
      @TheBooban 2 года назад +6

      Incineration is the best second use for plastics. And anything else. I don’t understand countries that use landfills.

    • @MirrimBlackfox
      @MirrimBlackfox 2 года назад +8

      @@TheBooban So you enjoy breathing in waist products? Because all those chemicals go into the air when something is burned.

    • @TheBooban
      @TheBooban 2 года назад

      @@MirrimBlackfox in your back yard yeah. At a proper incinerator, not that junk you have in the US and UK, but like Sweden and Singapore, all the poisons are captured or, you know, incinerated till they are gone. All that crap is burned, nothing but healthy black ash left.

  • @JimJohnson777
    @JimJohnson777 2 года назад +58

    I highly recommend Richard Heinberg’s recent book “Power”, Which brilliantly describes the world’s problem of long-term sustainability, and in turn highlights the potential importance of technologies like this.

    • @jamespardue3055
      @jamespardue3055 2 года назад +5

      "Sustainability" has long been, at best, ignored by industry, and at worst considered a dirty word to be ridiculed as "Eco-Terrorist Lingo". Thanks for the reference, will check it out.

    • @biodiversityfanatic2454
      @biodiversityfanatic2454 2 года назад

      @@jamespardue3055 "eco-terrorism" is when you have the audacity to protect the world from ecocide.

  • @qwcew
    @qwcew 2 года назад +20

    If I had to take a guess at how they made the name, sakaiensis is derived from Sakai the city where the bacterium was originally isolated from; Ideonella is derived from Ideon which is the name of the titular mecha from Space Runaway Ideon which is known for destroying a lot of things.

    • @gregbailey45
      @gregbailey45 2 года назад

      Thanks! I'll hang onto that titbit for my next Trivial Pursuit outing!

  • @faithce4936
    @faithce4936 2 года назад +31

    Very amazing, thanks for “breaking down” this dense material for all of us. I for one don’t want micro plastics in my lungs so I hope this goes a long way!

    • @aryaalessia4492
      @aryaalessia4492 Год назад

      It’s already inside of your bloodstream 🤣

  • @Kevin_Street
    @Kevin_Street 2 года назад +30

    Thank you for this followup video. It's really interesting to see how some of the technologies you've discussed earlier are progressing, and in particular it's good to see how plastic-eating enzymes have come along. Letting nature itself do the heavy design work and then improving the results with science seems to be a pretty productive strategy. It makes sense that the original bacteria would have a way to deal with the byproducts like TPA.

    • @JustHaveaThink
      @JustHaveaThink  2 года назад +5

      Thanks Kevin. I agree - the more we can learn from nature, the better.

  • @williamholmes7529
    @williamholmes7529 2 года назад +20

    Nice one, big shout out to researchers looking to improve the lives of all creatures on the planet. And also to you Dave for another well presented video detailing their exploits 🙏

  • @MrFmiller
    @MrFmiller 2 года назад +34

    Sounds great. I hope mass production doesn’t have it’s own unintended consequences. A large concentration of the bacteria or enzyme that consumes plastics in the environment might adapt to eating propeller seals, well seals, plastic components, paints, and any number of unforeseen objects. Things don’t always go as intended.

    • @gazzas123
      @gazzas123 2 года назад +2

      Mutant 59 a tv show just remember what it did.

    • @peterbarlow8912
      @peterbarlow8912 2 года назад +2

      The book and movie Andromeda Strain. What if it gets loose and eats critical durable goods. Reduce reuse recycle

    • @GreenJimll
      @GreenJimll 2 года назад

      I once had to go into a derelict, decommissioned lab as part of my then networking job. On the door to one part of the lab was an old sign that said something like "Warning: Methane Eating Microbes. Access only for Dr Chandra." I often wonder what happened to those microbes, or if it was some sort of researcher in joke.

    • @LuaanTi
      @LuaanTi 2 года назад +3

      That's the tricky part, isn't it? A big part of why we use plastics in the first place is their durability, including against bacteria. And unlike materials like glass, that isn't because they're at the bottom of the energy well - quite the opposite, they are quite good sources of energy... if something "figures out" how to break those chains. Sooner or later, with or without our help, that's going to happen (as it indeed happened with pretty much all the "inaccessible" sources of energy in the world, though it can of course take a very long time).

    • @grindupBaker
      @grindupBaker 2 года назад

      Uh oh. Challenger space shuttle ?

  • @richardgoldsmith7278
    @richardgoldsmith7278 2 года назад +30

    A step towards truly closed loop materials cycles where nothing is “Waste” and sustainability moves closer to our planet’s best examples of enrichment or greening.

  • @robertfallows1054
    @robertfallows1054 2 года назад +13

    I haven’t looked through all your videos so I might have missed it but a huge issue it seems to me in the plastic recycle world is the number of plastics. Here near Chicago I live in a community that tries to instruct residents on how to recycle household packaging. There is a labeling system on plastics usually from 1-6 that tries to ID the plastic and how you can or can not recycle it. This is usually at a designated drop off if the plastic is something other than plastic pop bottles etc. it’s incredibly frustrating and confusing and if you just decide to not separate plastics you run the risk of contaminating (too many different types) the mix at the drop off point with the result the drop off might be closed. So hopefully we can get these plastic munching enzymes on the job asap and not see the idea just disappear. Another gripe I have is: Have tried purchasing solar panels recently?? Hard to find. Expensive. Usually have to buy in bulk. Big supply chain issues. I don’t need many so I may just buy a couple from Amazon but it’s like buying lumber.

    • @SaveMoneySavethePlanet
      @SaveMoneySavethePlanet 2 года назад +2

      The amount of plastics is definitely an issue, but this is still important because PET is one of the most common. It’s pretty much the most commonly plastic used in the food and drug industry.
      I’m also assuming that finding this and working out the kinks for PET will expedite scientists being able to find tweaks that they can do for other common plastics like PP, PE, PC, and PS.
      We definitely need to trim down the types of plastics we use though…

  • @orionx79
    @orionx79 2 года назад

    Love the way you look at the study itself then translate it while stating both. I'm now subscribed and liking your vids.

  • @Noisy_Cricket
    @Noisy_Cricket 2 года назад +4

    This just made my day that much better! Thanks to you and to the scientists who worked on this!

  • @timclifford8809
    @timclifford8809 2 года назад

    What remarkable ingenuity! Hats off to all involved.

  • @slartibartfast7921
    @slartibartfast7921 2 года назад

    Fantastic. Amazing work as always and infinite props to the scientists working in this 🙏🏻

  • @whidbeyweather3116
    @whidbeyweather3116 2 года назад

    Tons of great information on your Channel!

  • @josemilian4167
    @josemilian4167 2 года назад

    love the progress being made.

  • @rockman531
    @rockman531 2 года назад +1

    Fantastic information!! Thank you for all your research (& good chuckles) every week! Love your channel!! Jim in Phoenix, AZ.

  • @jambay4785
    @jambay4785 2 года назад +5

    For those that are interested, way back in the 60's/70's there was a comic magazine, Green Arrow and Green Lantern, that was about an alien invasion that was polluting the world so they could thrive here, and yes there was the DC version too. I do hope we can control and adapt to our life on this planet.

  • @timmurphy5541
    @timmurphy5541 2 года назад +7

    What concerns me is: lets say a bacteria could chomp plastic: wouldn't that make plastic largely useless? Any contamination from it would finish off the shelf-life enhancement that we use plastics for?

    • @brianfretwell3886
      @brianfretwell3886 2 года назад +1

      Yes, don't spill any on an aircraft as in the Doomwatch episode "The Plastic Eaters" from the 1970's.

    • @carlpodrecca5177
      @carlpodrecca5177 2 года назад

      Gee how you been using that plastic in your lungs? Been working out good for ya huh?

    • @mill2712
      @mill2712 2 года назад

      That could be a possibility. Hopefully advances in material science could help with the creation of a new replacement with less impact to the environment.

    • @canberk1667
      @canberk1667 2 года назад +1

      Exactly!

    • @TaiViinikka
      @TaiViinikka 2 года назад +1

      Well, the bacteria have already occurred naturally, so that cat is out of the bag. It seems like research is focused on artificial systems that use the enzyme alone, which is much safer. Enzymes can't reproduce, and don't last in the environment; they are just well-designed proteins.

  • @peterjaniceforan3080
    @peterjaniceforan3080 2 года назад

    Thank you for presenting clearly.

  • @jamessellards7157
    @jamessellards7157 2 года назад +1

    I love the info on your videos, it's always explained in a very interesting way.
    Love the channel!!!!!!!

  • @erikcomtois2492
    @erikcomtois2492 2 года назад

    Great story. Thanks for the following up.

  • @josefafloresaraya
    @josefafloresaraya Год назад

    Thanks! This make me feel less depressive!

  • @c62west
    @c62west 2 года назад

    Awesome topic. Thanks.

  • @gloriakalcic135
    @gloriakalcic135 Месяц назад

    Really good video and a very warm voice. I would like to be able to help with these researches. Thank you ❤

  • @samjohnston4945
    @samjohnston4945 2 года назад +1

    Very interesting. Thanks

  • @alfredotto7525
    @alfredotto7525 2 года назад

    Love your channel.

  • @buddypvaz124
    @buddypvaz124 2 года назад +1

    I do enjoy having a think.

  • @philiporeillycork
    @philiporeillycork 2 года назад

    Only just found this channel. Great videos and really informative!

  • @jimurrata6785
    @jimurrata6785 2 года назад +18

    While it's great to see progress made breaking down plastics, the scale of the 'problem' seems overlooked.
    PET is one of the few plastics that we seem pretty good at recycling.
    While I'm not so sure how much value there is in flooding the market with ethylene glycol.
    Will watch with interest to see if and how this enzyme is modified to reduce other polymers.

    • @emmabird9745
      @emmabird9745 2 года назад +1

      I don't know about 'flooding the market' with ethylene glycol but I can see two good uses for it in 'saving the planet'.
      1. As an antifreeze/working fluid in heat pumps which need to work in sub zero conditions.
      2. As a heat storage medium/working fluid in solar heating hot water storage systems. It has the obvious antifreeze property and, I believe (correct me if I'm wrong), it has a higher thermal capacity than water.
      Either way I agree with you its great to see progress on solutions.

    • @jimurrata6785
      @jimurrata6785 2 года назад +2

      @@emmabird9745 I'd like to see POLYethylene glycol used as it's not nearly as toxic.
      While pure water has more capacity to carry heat (volume to volume) ethylene glycol raises the boiling point beyond what your pressure cap might suggest.
      Add to this that glycol based antifreeze lubricates seals, inhibits corrosion and keeps anything from growing as advantages.
      I still wouldn't want hundreds of gallons of it circulating in my backyard or on my roof.

    • @gregbailey45
      @gregbailey45 2 года назад

      Hopefully, ethylene glycol is a good feedstock for more valuable products. Maybe even plastic!

    • @jimurrata6785
      @jimurrata6785 2 года назад

      @@gregbailey45 😉. 🤣🤣🤣

    • @emmabird9745
      @emmabird9745 2 года назад

      @@jimurrata6785 First of all thanks for the correction viz a viz thermal capacity. Yes it has a higher boiling point than water but that is unlikely to be important in a heat storage application.
      I agree toxic chemicals are not a good idea. I would not advocate producing the stuff from virgin chemicals, however I was looking for a use for a biproduct that, given the ammount of plastic to deal with, we will have a lot of.
      I think your suggestion of polyethelene glycol looks a good use for it given ethelene glycol is a feed stock. Not being a chemist I was previously unaware of it, Thanks for the education.

  • @shararham81ify
    @shararham81ify 2 года назад

    Thanks for the positive news.

  • @diegoayala11
    @diegoayala11 2 года назад

    Excellent ~ thanks!

  • @benmcreynolds8581
    @benmcreynolds8581 2 года назад +2

    This is awesome and the exact direction they should be going because working with Nature to harness Nature is the best approach 👍

  • @anders21karlsson
    @anders21karlsson 2 года назад

    Great video as always.

  • @Nightowl5454
    @Nightowl5454 2 года назад

    Your channel is growing super fast!😁

  • @armatagejohn
    @armatagejohn 2 года назад +1

    Very interesting, thanks.

  • @recordkeeper4761
    @recordkeeper4761 2 года назад +1

    It's aways nice to hear that we are making progress

  • @puntuated
    @puntuated 2 года назад

    I do enjoy but also learn a great deal from your summaries. Please keep it up. By the way, I preferred the previous red/orange logo used in the intro, I always thought it was very much more impressive than most used on RUclips.

    • @JustHaveaThink
      @JustHaveaThink  2 года назад

      Thanks for your feedback. I guess it was inevitable that not everyone would like the new logo. I changed it because of feedback saying that the wording was not clear enough.

  • @PhotonFlightTeam
    @PhotonFlightTeam 2 года назад

    informative as always........but humor is absolutely tops! delight to view your work, always.

  • @rzquasar
    @rzquasar 2 года назад

    Excellent thanks

  • @davitdavid7165
    @davitdavid7165 2 года назад

    A sequal to the video i found this channel through. And a worthy one.

  • @global_nomad.
    @global_nomad. 2 года назад +5

    thanks for the update on the development of this tech...hope it becomes viable at a commercial scale asap

    • @SaveMoneySavethePlanet
      @SaveMoneySavethePlanet 2 года назад

      Yea, I’m also hoping that we hear word on commercialization in the next year or two.

  • @leoclark5831
    @leoclark5831 2 года назад +2

    This is an AMAZING update...even better plastic eating enzymes...AWESOME
    Plastic in people's lungs? NOT OKAY

  • @NicolasMendoula
    @NicolasMendoula 2 года назад +1

    That's awesome !

  • @hendrienel2259
    @hendrienel2259 2 года назад

    Thankyou

  • @martincotterill823
    @martincotterill823 2 года назад

    You give me hope, Dave

  • @marlinmixon3004
    @marlinmixon3004 2 года назад +6

    I wonder about the toxicity of PETase and whether or not it could be used in drug form to eliminate plastic particles from humans?

    • @adamrak7560
      @adamrak7560 2 года назад

      The immune system will detect it as a foreign protein and attack it very fast.
      Making it human compatible is extremely difficult, because the immune system is very picky about a protein in blood plasma.
      Currently not even synthetic antibodies are truly human compatible, so you have to use immunosuppressants to protect them.

  • @Vexed09
    @Vexed09 2 года назад

    Great vid!

  • @keithaumann8183
    @keithaumann8183 2 года назад

    This is excellent news! We are growing our capabilities to re-use our waste.

  • @roadgoeseveron7128
    @roadgoeseveron7128 2 года назад +1

    the knowledge i gain from this channel always gives me a tiny little bit of hope... rare these days

  • @spencerbardell
    @spencerbardell 2 года назад

    Good show!

  • @DrJaxonsElixirOfLife
    @DrJaxonsElixirOfLife 2 года назад

    Thanx Dave. Good to get an update on a very interesting topic..!

    • @JustHaveaThink
      @JustHaveaThink  2 года назад +1

      Glad you enjoyed it :-)

    • @DrJaxonsElixirOfLife
      @DrJaxonsElixirOfLife 2 года назад

      @@JustHaveaThink I enjoy every one of them! I don't always comment though. I have said before that I often use your videos in order to help inform and encourage other people. Thanx for your time and effort it is well worth it!!!

  • @nathanielblair6466
    @nathanielblair6466 2 года назад

    wow! go you! you're doing great!

  • @user-cc8kb
    @user-cc8kb 2 года назад

    Great! I love positive breakthrough videos! :D

  • @unvergebeneid
    @unvergebeneid 2 года назад +11

    This sounds promising but I wonder if PET might be the low-hanging fruit in terms of how easy it is to metabolise. I just looked up some numbers and found that only about 6.7% of plastics produced are PET. And PET recycling is actually among the best already :/

    • @DRakeTRofKBam
      @DRakeTRofKBam 2 года назад +7

      It may be a low hanging fruit, but itll serve as the basis to tackle other plastics as well, not to mention that we could end up having a basis for engineering other plastic enzymes in the future

    • @unvergebeneid
      @unvergebeneid 2 года назад +2

      @@DRakeTRofKBam I am not an organic chemist but my understanding is that especially polymers containing halogens like PVC are a completely different beast.

    • @adamrak7560
      @adamrak7560 2 года назад +9

      @@unvergebeneid exactly.
      - PET is one of the easiest because it is a polyester. Nature has lots of experience about breaking the ester bond (no need to add energy, just add water and an enzyme).
      - Polyethylene or propylene are pure carbon chains. Breaking a carbon-carbon bond inside a carbon chain without relying on any tricks (like double bonds, hydroxy side chains, etc..) is very difficult.
      - PVC uses a carbon chain, but some hydrogens were replaced with a chlorine atom. Breaking the carbon-carbon bonds should not be more difficult compared to PE or PP, but you can accidentally make very toxic halogenic carbon compounds. (almost all small halocarbons are highly toxic!)
      So for PVC you need to either remove the chlorine from the carbon, which is quite difficult, or convert it into a harmless molecule, which is almost impossible.

    • @unvergebeneid
      @unvergebeneid 2 года назад +2

      @@adamrak7560 thanks for the insight, depressing as it might be!

    • @joemerino3243
      @joemerino3243 2 года назад +1

      @@unvergebeneid It's only depressing if you want your water pipes to start rotting in the ground, while dumping toxic halocarbons into your water supply.

  • @jonathanstewart351
    @jonathanstewart351 2 года назад

    This is great news!!

  • @tedbomba6631
    @tedbomba6631 2 года назад

    Excellent video that offers us some hopeful information about how we might begin to solve the plastic pollution problem.

  • @anirbanpatra3017
    @anirbanpatra3017 2 года назад

    Your Contet is fantastic.

  • @ThatOneScienceGuy
    @ThatOneScienceGuy 2 года назад

    Very nice

  • @Erbmon
    @Erbmon 2 года назад

    This reminds me of a documentary on mushroms, wood does not decompose on it's own for centuries it just piled up, then a mushroom evolved a bacteria that was able to decompose wood. There is no question that live will live on, the question is if humans will survive to observe it.

  • @danellerbe1521
    @danellerbe1521 2 года назад +3

    WooHoo Dave!! I love you Man! I never miss your episodes-

  • @valoric4767
    @valoric4767 2 года назад

    Love news about this. Hope it gets utilised ASAP.

  • @TheAnticorporatist
    @TheAnticorporatist 2 года назад +1

    There's also a super basic (as opposed to acidic) mold that can make granite temporarily clay like, very handy for building Southern American pyramids.

    • @Moses_VII
      @Moses_VII 2 года назад

      Thanks for (as opposed to acidic) because I thought you meant the mold was simple!

  • @fawazr
    @fawazr 2 года назад +2

    The hoops we'll jump through to ensure the continued success of the plastics industry.

    • @meoff7602
      @meoff7602 2 года назад +1

      Well of course. It's an endless supply of construction materials. Even if we runout of crude oil. There is always vegetable oil. Granted the last one is whole another problem that would need to be solved.

  • @gefginn3699
    @gefginn3699 2 года назад

    Great post my friend. I always enjoy your style of presentation. Stay free, happy and healthy ✨️

  • @geraldbull9272
    @geraldbull9272 2 года назад

    Very good presenter.

  • @mattstirling7494
    @mattstirling7494 2 года назад

    Genuinely impressed by the quality, breadth and humour of your work. I love how you treat your audience like intelligent adults. Bravo!

  • @peteglass3496
    @peteglass3496 2 года назад +8

    There was quite an interesting discussion of a paper on this topic on "This Week in Microbiology" TWiM 257 in Jan 2022 on prof. Vincent Racaniello's RUclips channel (audio only) and standard audio podcast. It was a big data trawl for plastic eating enzymes in the environment at large. 2nd paper discussed after phages, I think open access. Also further discussion on nanoplastics in food - prepare to be shocked...

    • @JustHaveaThink
      @JustHaveaThink  2 года назад +1

      Thanks Pete. I'll look that up

    • @peteglass3496
      @peteglass3496 2 года назад +1

      @@JustHaveaThink thanks for the name check - these 18months+ I've been watching prof. Vincent's Virology course and his science discussions between my normal EV viewing habits and channels like yours. :)

  • @vladimirsvirid7705
    @vladimirsvirid7705 2 года назад

    ty

  • @robertdem259
    @robertdem259 Год назад

    Such a great video! I'm actually currently working with the mutated PETase and a bunch of cutinases. My lab is trying to develop an assay to allow for high throughput testing of larger libraries of mutants for these enzymes to accelerate their development. Also trying to understand how they bind and access these bonds on the highly crystalline plastic surface, to be able to apply this to other enzymes.

  • @jefflappin
    @jefflappin 2 года назад

    There was a Canadian kid that discovered a microbe that ate plastic back 2008 too. Looks like exciting progress!

  • @agw5425
    @agw5425 2 года назад +5

    I wonder if those bacteria are safe to ingest and if they can brake down plastics already in our bodies if that would have any health benefits at all that is. Perhaps this should be a recurring topic on a regular basis.

    • @epicpwn15000
      @epicpwn15000 2 года назад

      I think we will have to flush it out with non plastic food and water. Our bodies will kill the bacteria.

    • @Kevin_Street
      @Kevin_Street 2 года назад

      Even if they're safe to ingest our immune systems will still hunt them down and eliminate them. That and other problems (like the need for additional buffering agents to speed up the reaction, and the problem that the main byproduct of one enzyme is antifreeze) would pretty much rule out the use of this process in living creatures.
      I'm not really sure what can be done about microplastics that are in our tissues, but frequent blood donations could reduce the level of plastics (and other forever chemicals) in our blood. Maybe that could be a solution?

    • @agw5425
      @agw5425 2 года назад

      @@Kevin_Street It would have to be a modified version that do not cause worse side effects than it cures. Can the micro plastics be filtered out of the blod or how would donations help?

    • @LuaanTi
      @LuaanTi 2 года назад

      Your body is generally pretty good at fending off assaults by alien bacteria and enzymes. And keep in mind that this is just _one_ enzyme in the chemical repertoire of the bacterium - they're still perfectly capable of eating everything other than plastic in your body ;)

  • @pw4721
    @pw4721 2 года назад

    Only just discovered this channel.
    After watching just the latest video and now this video about plastic munching microbes, I feel a renewed sense of optimism about our future. We still need to clean up mankind's act, find alternative means of power etc etc....and whilst we can't just sit back and rely on science to get us out of the mess we have created, science and the benefits it can bring to our lives and to the planet are amazing.
    I struggle to fully understand some of the science behind the plastic eating microbes, but it does appear to be amazing. We need to lobby governments and private funding sources to invest in this and other technology....just think if the all countries of the world just for one year spent nothing on weapons and instead invested the money in science what amazing advances could be made. I know it's not that easy....but just think if we could!!
    Thanks to 'Just Have a Think' ...will be watching all your videos.

  • @ricoremo9667
    @ricoremo9667 2 года назад +2

    There is an enzyme discovered from the sap of the banana tree that can “eat” the plastic Coca-cola bottle. This was discovered by Dr. Serafin Riosa of the DOST during the Marcos years. This enzyme is still being used today in the Philippines as a disinfectant and odor remover in waste products…

  • @davedsmith86
    @davedsmith86 2 года назад

    For what it's worth, the building blocks for PET are TPA and ethylene glycol i.e. without further conversion (as shown in this video) TPA can still be used for the manufacture of new PET

  • @kevinjpluck
    @kevinjpluck 2 года назад +6

    Be great to have an explanation of the practicalities these enzymes would need to do their job. Can you just dump bottles in a vat? Would they need to be really clean / ground up / just PET or would other plastic inclusions mess with the process? How often would the enzyme solution need to be replaced?
    Thank you for these superb videos!

    • @SaveMoneySavethePlanet
      @SaveMoneySavethePlanet 2 года назад

      Based on how far they’ve gone in two years, I’m wondering if we might have the answers to those questions in just another year or two.

  • @thewatersavior
    @thewatersavior 2 года назад +1

    Diapers in a dump seem like the ultimate petri dish... Or at least the ultimate naming opportunity

  • @-LightningRod-
    @-LightningRod- 2 года назад

    im not sure, ..but that sounds like good information and reflexively i am recoiling for the backslap.

  • @richardboland1935
    @richardboland1935 2 года назад +1

    Microplastics found in human lungs?
    I'm not the least bit surprised...
    Love the plastic chomping research summary, David!

  • @Adam_Bosscoe
    @Adam_Bosscoe 2 года назад

    So what you're saying is if we keep looking for solutions to problems, there's a chance we'll find that and more? I agree and couldn't be happier! 🙌

  • @rawberto8282
    @rawberto8282 2 года назад

    There is hope for humanity. Many thanks for translating this informaton to us humble peons.

  • @somedumbguy7281
    @somedumbguy7281 2 года назад

    I'm working on agriculture tech. One plastic I'm fond of is HDPE2 (milk cartons). This plastic is food safe and re-moldable with a simple application of heat (+400F, which can even be done in a household oven).

  • @gamehacker2801
    @gamehacker2801 2 года назад +6

    I like the old logo. Red attracts attention.

  • @daveinglis4225
    @daveinglis4225 2 года назад +5

    A danger I see is: how do you keep PETase with its updated chromosomal configuration, from also breaking down plants cutin layers making plant life highly vulnerable to bacterial degeneration? If this feature is placed back into bacteria the genie will be out of the bottle and most plant life will cease to exist. The pure enzyme would be the only option,but if it’s produced via bacteria its a only a question of time. I guess that problem has to be solved anyway. We can’t have enzymes dissolving plastic before it enters the waste stream. I’ll have to go watch the original post.

    • @Fanta....
      @Fanta.... 2 года назад

      That's an easy one to answer, you see I don't know anything but im making it look like i do by writing all this nonsense so that people scrolling past without really looking will think im uber smart and whatnot, and thus my internet rep will be retained. I hope this helps.

    • @Cineenvenordquist
      @Cineenvenordquist 2 года назад

      The competition dynamic doesn't change so much. Plants are energetically favored until they fall to mulch.

    • @TaiViinikka
      @TaiViinikka 2 года назад +1

      " If this feature is placed back into bacteria the genie will be out of the bottle ..." This is a problem which is solved in a large number of ways for a large number of products. Everything from vaccine components to enzymes to antibiotics is manufactured by growing a microorganism that has been engineered to produce (and sometimes secrete) the product. In doing so, you make choices that won't allow the microorganism to grow outside the factory, and furthermore won't allow the gene to be shared with a different organism.

  • @harveytheparaglidingchaser7039
    @harveytheparaglidingchaser7039 2 года назад

    Another brilliant upswing in the rollercoaster of doom and hope.

  • @The.2.Minute-Man
    @The.2.Minute-Man 2 года назад

    Today I am a little bit Smarter .. Thanks Enjoyed

  • @obiwanbenobi4943
    @obiwanbenobi4943 2 года назад

    Good to hear. :) Hope they don't let any genies out of the bottle...

  • @onebylandtwoifbysearunifby5475
    @onebylandtwoifbysearunifby5475 2 года назад +1

    Enzymes are amazing!
    I took 3 years of organic chemistry, and i wouldn't even know where to begin replicating what they do. (I was also not very good at organic chemistry... But none the less...)

  • @KJSvitko
    @KJSvitko 2 года назад +10

    Has any progress been made on the oil eating bacteria used to help with the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico ?
    Sure seems like oil spills are still happening around the world and could use some help with the clean up.

    • @SeeNickView
      @SeeNickView 2 года назад +8

      To add to the question, Dave, if you see it, can you do a video about bioremediation?
      As OP mentions, there's bacterioremediation. But there is also;
      - phytoremediation (via plants), and
      - mycoremediation (via fungi).

  • @danlonick800
    @danlonick800 2 года назад +1

    This is great news.

  • @Hayesboy96
    @Hayesboy96 2 года назад

    Montana State kicks ass at engineering and science! Way cool so see it publishing some amazing scientific papers!

  • @17penobscot
    @17penobscot Год назад

    It gives me hope that nature has found a way to remove plastic waste. Goes to show nature will heal itself long after we’re gone

  • @rlsearch1
    @rlsearch1 2 года назад

    Dave, as I have said before, you have a wonderful gift for 'dumbing down' brain numbing topics, so that a numpty like myself can get my single brain cell to rap itself around otherwise incomprehensibly complex subjects, no matter how important they are to my future. At the same time, I find myself chuckling out loud at your wonderful dry, often self-deprecating humour, -unbelievable and thank you for allowing me a glimpse into such important facets of science and technology, which I would otherwise be exempt from - keep up the wonderful work Dave👍😂👌

  • @WirelessGriff
    @WirelessGriff 2 года назад +7

    Great Stuff Dave. Thanks for making sense of some of the impenetrable scientific terms (and that comes from someone with a scientific degree :-/ ). I can’t add to the dialogue but I believe that leaving comments here also helps to promote the channel on the You Tube algorithm, hence my comments here.

  • @kimwarburton8490
    @kimwarburton8490 2 года назад +4

    Im so glad to have you translate the scientific jargon! i can keep up with you, but not scientific papers unless they are medical ones

  • @BruininksBart
    @BruininksBart 2 года назад

    Really enjoyed thanks!
    Small note, there is a representation error of the DCD molecule (5:30). It is indicated as being aromatic (dotted ring), but it is not.

  • @dprcontracting6299
    @dprcontracting6299 2 года назад +1

    Nice one Dave. Another topical, easy to understand and informative vid. I even felt my depression about what us humans are doing to our home lift for a while. Keep up the good work.