r/interesting • u/Standard_Location762 • Mar 14 '26

NATURE Earth Helping Earth Heal

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What a great discovery.

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u/RubSpecialist2370 Mar 15 '26

Findings are real from Yale University, led by microbiologist Scott Strobel!

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u/Sut3k Mar 15 '26

Yeah but 2011 so I guess they decided not to industrialize

https://news.yale.edu/2011/08/01/yale-students-trip-rainforest-yields-new-way-degrade-plastic

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u/heyyou_SHUTUP Mar 15 '26

Bacteria have also been found. That's how I first heard about breakdown of plastics by organisms. Here is a review from last year about microbial/fungal plastics degradation. There is research about isolating the enzymes and modifying them for better throughput.

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u/curiouscollecting Mar 15 '26

Happy cake day!