You may have heard, but there are some folks out there who aren't too pleased with all the plastic we have in clogging our landfills and killing our wildlife. Luckily, now all these anti-our-giant-and-oh-so-necessary-3-friggin'-liter-bottles-of-sugar-water might be able to throw a party replete with tofu cubes and spring rolls: a mushroom has been found in the Amazon that might simply eat it all. Yep.
Pestalotiopsis microspora, a horror movie mushroom if there ever was one, was found in Ecuador by biochemistry professor Scott Strobel and his team of Yale researchers as part of the university's annual Rainforest Expedition and Laboratory. And it can live off polyurethane aka plastic exclusively. No oxygen required. This matters because landfills don't exactly come with an abundance of good ole' oxygen at the bottom of its trashy piles.
At the moment, there isn't much information on reasons why this wouldn't work, so I guess we can all rest easy with the comforting thought that there is a plant out there that likes nothing more than to eat indestructible things.
I assume we'll start using these in our landfills.
I just hope they never get out. LINK
At the moment, there isn't much information on reasons why this wouldn't work, so I guess we can all rest easy with the comforting thought that there is a plant out there that likes nothing more than to eat indestructible things.
I assume we'll start using these in our landfills.
I just hope they never get out. LINK
Via Gizmodo
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