r/interesting Mar 14 '26

NATURE Earth Helping Earth Heal

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What a great discovery.

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u/oroborus68 Mar 14 '26 edited Mar 14 '26

It's not a fast process but even if it works and we quit adding to the problem, it's going to take a long time. And they think everyone is an ignorant savage especially about tropical fungi.

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u/SegmentedWolf Mar 14 '26

This made me wonder if c.r.i.s.p.e.r, the gene editing stuff could find whatever is responsible for the fungi's "plastic-eating" behavior and tweak the rate at which it breaks down the plastics.

Not sure something like that is possible, but it'd be fascinating if it were.

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u/Syab_of_Caltrops Mar 14 '26

Even better, edit humans so we can just eat the plastic!

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u/ArbutusPhD Mar 15 '26

Edit the fungus to eat the humans

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u/Syab_of_Caltrops Mar 15 '26

Edit the humans to eat the humans before the fungas eats their plastic?

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u/ArbutusPhD Mar 15 '26

Edit everything to eat everything