anticapitalist:

Amazonian Mushroom Eats Indestructible Plastics

We use polyurethane to make just about everything—garden hoses, furniture, the entirety of my local 99-cent store. It’s easy to produce, durable, and dirt cheap. What it isn’t is recyclable—there isn’t a single natural process that breaks it down. That is until a newly-discovered Amazonian fungus takes a bite.

Pestalotiopsis microspora (not shown) is a resident of the Ecuadorian rainforest and was discovered by a group of student researchers led by molecular biochemistry professor Scott Strobel as part of Yale’s annual Rainforest Expedition and Laboratory. It’s the first fungus species to be able to survive exclusively on polyurethane and, more importantly, able to do so in anaerobic conditions—the same conditions found in the bottom of landfills. This makes the fungus a prime candidate for bioremediation projects that could finally provide an alternative to just burying the plastic and hoping for the best.

That’s really awesome. 

(via mentalalchemy)

1. allhail-thenewflesh reblogged this from lifting-of-the-veil
2. boobsta liked this
3. juggsica reblogged this from ilaccentya
4. meagan-taylor liked this
5. thesoulthescreen liked this
6. mroehrich liked this
7. space-tentacles liked this
8. hicockalorum reblogged this from smurfberries
9. scarlettspeedster reblogged this from back-in-a-flash
10. stonedpettree reblogged this from anticapitalist
11. blairbutterfield reblogged this from scinerds
12. nightshade-tea liked this
13. nightshade-tea reblogged this from pill0whead
14. elusivemusings liked this
15. palatial-bear-messages reblogged this from pill0whead and added:

    At the end of the day, Mother Earth is running the show. We are not more than mere ant colonies, germ collectives, and...

16. pill0whead reblogged this from leghole
17. dearm3rmaid reblogged this from margheritemorti
18. margheritemorti reblogged this from dysfunctuality
19. thesmokingpun reblogged this from kr-law
20. dysfunctuality reblogged this from puremoaning
21. puremoaning reblogged this from kr-law
22. puremoaning liked this
23. kr-law reblogged this from alfalfahouse and added:

    Amazonian Mushroom Eats Indestructible Plastics We use polyurethane to make just about everything—garden hoses,...

24. tylwyth-vila reblogged this from thequantumlife
25. cheesycrust reblogged this from anticapitalist
26. initiateignition reblogged this from anticapitalist
27. leftclickloot liked this
28. leftclickloot reblogged this from back-in-a-flash
29. back-in-a-flash reblogged this from anticapitalist
30. cristallisee reblogged this from scinerds
31. rational-me reblogged this from anticapitalist
32. jackbeloved reblogged this from scinerds and added:

    Amazonian Mushroom Eats Indestructible Plastics We use polyurethane to make just about everything—garden hoses,...

33. agreylife liked this
34. spilt-milk reblogged this from barkbarkbarkbarkbarkbarkbarkbark
35. lostnfoundmymind liked this
36. lovelisandro reblogged this from imnothayley
37. theoreticalzeropoint liked this
38. cattygothloli reblogged this from mazzyr
39. cindersss liked this
40. uroosalove525 liked this
41. uroosalove525 reblogged this from sirimpooopy
42. sirimpooopy reblogged this from dishabillic
43. infinilumiere liked this
44. broken-microwave liked this
45. shenzhou reblogged this from newtongirl
46. adan1love reblogged this from erikisamazing
47. erikisamazing reblogged this from anticapitalist
48. kaylakraken liked this
49. burn0utacid liked this
50. multisurface reblogged this from anticapitalist
51. Show more notesLoading...