11 Jul 2012

Synthetic Bacteria Could Turn Ocean Garbage into One Big Island


Entrepreneurial students from University College London are striving to create tropical paradises made from ocean garbage. The aim of the project is to collect tiny pieces of plastic trash floating in the ocean, then stick them all together to create islands of artificial habitat.
“After months of planning, we are now rallying to construct a ‘plastic island’ using the principles of synthetic biology. In so doing we hope to provide a solution to one of the world’s major environmental problems – the North Pacific Garbage Patch,” the students write.

The idea, basically, is to create bacteria that identify bits of plastic and either “aggregate” those bits by creating “sticky extensions of cell membrane” or degrade them, if they’re not prone to sticking together. Help the students crowd fund their project and earn yourself a place in future plastic island paradise.

2 comments:

  1. technovoric:

    miracle cure for pollution:
    when the scientists found the fungus
    that ate the plastic
    we were overjoyed: followed fast on
    by radiation:encapsulating cacti, which
    store our deadliest waste forever, in spiked green
    evergrowing barrels: then the final victory: the
    garbage machines, self-constructing intelligent and made of
    everything we didn't want: shortly thereafter, all our clothes melted and
    all the forests turned to glowing saguaro and
    the garbage machines took over: now, naked, we oil them using
    our own rendered fat, now we wait
    for the next stage of this planet to finish its dawn: we will be gone but
    already the new scenery is
    sort of exciting
    the hot flowers by night are
    amazing

    ©Peter A. Greene 2012

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  2. Have the bloody Brits do a GMO number to create an antidote to the GMO bacteria in Corexit currently killing every living thing in the Gulf of Mexico. This and the 'Global warming' scam being played on everyone warrants serious limitations put on any noise coming out of those ________ in The City of London.

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