Bacteria eating plastic is not as good an idea as it seems ● What does rust have to do with global warming? ● How some carnivorous plants have evolved into ecological toilets

Bacteria feeding on plastic is not as good an idea as it might seem

The fact that plastic pollution is a big problem has not been a secret for a long time. Since 1972, when the first signs of plastic pollution in the ocean were noticed, until today we have dumped more than eight million tons of plastic into the seas and oceans alone every year. This is in conditions where more than 300 million tons of plastic are produced annually.

That’s why the discovery of a plastic-eating bacterium, Rhodococcus ruber as it’s named, was seen as a possible solution to cleaning up what others have destroyed. The problem is that R. Ruber did not appear out of nowhere. It was discovered back in 1896, and has been on the planet for quite a long time. It has evolved to consume plastic like other marine microorganisms, it seems.

The problem is that these bacteria, even if they have developed a positive role, do not solve the problem, and we can even jump with them from the lake to the well. This is stated in a study recently published in the Marine Pollution Bulletin, which was signed by experts from the Netherlands, Spain and Norway. First, the bacteria involved break down the plastic. And this is at a very slow level. And part of it turns into microplastic. So he put commas on experts when they calculated how much plastic ends up in the oceans and how much they found. In the end, there was a little less, and no one knew where the rest went. Well, he’s gone! Microplastics got everywhere: in food, in organisms, including people.

Secondly, what scientists call plastifera is only formed in the oceans. That is, a synthetic ecosystem whose food source is plastic. And no one can say now how it will affect marine life. This can have worse consequences than anyone imagines. Introducing new organisms into the environment without knowing what the consequences are has not yet proven to be a very good idea.

Obviously millions of tons of plastic in the water is not happiness either, but maybe other solutions should be found before we start spreading these bacteria everywhere. As experts said, they get rid of one part of the problem, but they can create another, at least as big.

What does rust have to do with global warming?

It seems that no matter what humanity does, all evil eventually comes out. For example, he made steel. And steel has proven itself to be good and useful to people in various fields, from automotive to construction. The problem is that it does not resist oxidation and rusts. And this, as you just found out, exacerbates our global warming problems? how? Let’s explain right away.

Several researchers at Ohio State University have published a study in the journal npj Materials Degradation that shows us what the problem is. Accordingly, all that rust-degrading steel needs to be replaced, or your legs will be sticking out of the car floor like Fred Flintstone. The production of new steel means polluting technologies. So polluting is the production of the steel needed to replace corroding steel alone that accounts for 3.4% of global carbon emissions.

Anyway, in total, this industry alone accounts for 10.5 of the total carbon emissions, but we’ve only talked about the steel that needs to be replaced now. Thus, with the passage of time and the increasing corrosion of steel, it is estimated that these emissions will increase from 3.4% to about 9% in just a few years, namely by 2030.

Even if technologies were implemented to reduce pollution in this area, and they have done so by 61% over the past 50 years, it is still not enough. So what to do? Well, experts say, we must find solutions that prevent steel from corroding, find alternative solutions that pollute the environment less. Yes, thanks, that’s what we concluded as well, we didn’t even need research to tell us that! Ultimately, they don’t have a solution, but they’re looking for one.

How some carnivorous plants evolved into ecological toilets and why they are so beautiful

Carnivorous plants are known to commonly consume insects to ensure their nutrient intake. They evolved to do this because they couldn’t always find what they needed in the soil. More recently, we seem to be witnessing another evolutionary step, or at least experts are just now discovering it.

In this case, it is the genus Nepenthes, a genus that includes about 170 species of carnivorous plants found mainly in South Asia or the southern hemisphere. Analyzing the content of nitrogen isotopes in the plants of these Bornean carnivores, several Australian researchers found that there are large differences between them. So they observed what was happening, and what they learned, they recorded in a study published in the Annals of Botany.

It turns out that some carnivorous plants of the genus Nepenthes, when they grew at higher altitudes, where the number of insects is much lower, developed a new ability. This is the attraction of animals from the area and the consumption of their waste. It is suitable for voles, birds, bats and other friendly creatures that come to consume carbohydrates from flower cups.

Also there I do number two, luckily for the plant that was actually waiting for it. And this allows them not only to exist, but even to flourish in those areas where, as a rule, they would not be able to survive. It seems that life always finds solutions, even if they are not the most pleasant.

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