Scientists issue dire warning: Microplastic accumulation in human brains escalating
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More importantly, how are we getting them out?
There's bacteria that can eat plastics. Lets hope they don't eat brain too.
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I am longing for plastic-eating bacteria to be released into the wild. There are other materials we can use.
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A relative bright spot amidst a sea of bad news:
"Bottled water alone can expose people to nearly as many microplastic particles annually as all ingested and inhaled sources combined,” said Brandon Luu, an Internal Medicine Resident at the University of Toronto. “Switching to tap water could reduce this exposure by almost 90%, making it one of the simplest ways to cut down on microplastic intake.”
Dunno if anyone reading this is still drinking bottled water, but, uh, now you have another reason to not do that.
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I'm a microbiologist but my grad school work, research, and coursework was very chemistry heavy. There are no "probably does somethings" of significance here: the chemistry of plastic generation is extremely well researched.
Plastic is made of polymerized hydrocarbons, linked up identical tiny units of carbon strands called monomers. Polymerization, the linkage of the monomers into a polymer, requires the use of a catalyst. This is often done with increased heat and pressure to increase the speed of polymerization. Maximum temperatures are around 350°C for certain plastics but are more commonly 140-160°C as higher temperatures can cause the material to break down. Once the desired size of linkage is created, the polymer is capped to keep it from growing further.
Polymerized hydrocarbons degrade, not further polymerize somehow, at high temperatures like 600° C. Saying there's some mysterious, high-heat-driven polymerization is like saying burning wood, which is largely a polymer of glucose called cellulose, somehow creates more cellulose as it burns. The burning is due to the release of the energy contained in the bonds in the wood as they break down and react with oxygen.
Even if the process DID somehow create some plastic, a given mass of brain tissue would be expected to create predictable amounts of this mystery polymer, giving a background measurement that can be subtracted. Again, though, we know how this all works so it's not really a concern.
Brain tissue is not as simple as cellulose, but at 600 C with the molecules that make up the molecular soup, there would definitely be some lysing that would take place and form thing like free radicals, these have the potential to react forming longer chains of carbon, which could possibly create a false positive.
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I am longing for plastic-eating bacteria to be released into the wild. There are other materials we can use.
Yes, I am sure such a bacteria being released at this scale would have absolutely zero negative consequences
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So what? We all have to make a bit of sacrifice to maximize shareholder value. Stop whining about it!
::: spoiler Tap for spoiler
/s
:::wow! I'm glad you did the /s I am incapable of parsing sarcasm due to my plastic induced retardation on Reddit
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I can feel it
same honestly
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wow! I'm glad you did the /s I am incapable of parsing sarcasm due to my plastic induced retardation on Reddit
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Yes, I am sure such a bacteria being released at this scale would have absolutely zero negative consequences
As opposed to the alternative?
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Brain tissue is not as simple as cellulose, but at 600 C with the molecules that make up the molecular soup, there would definitely be some lysing that would take place and form thing like free radicals, these have the potential to react forming longer chains of carbon, which could possibly create a false positive.
I'm sorry, but that's just word salad - it doesn't actually make sense. Even if it did, it would still be easily accounted for with control tissue.
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What is this hypothesis based on?
It was anally sourced, their citations all point to the American Proctological Society.
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I am longing for plastic-eating bacteria to be released into the wild. There are other materials we can use.
Think of how many things around you are made of plastic. What about critical pieces of things like airplanes? What would you replace that with to prevent the bacteria from causing damage to them?
I could probably pick a few things on my desk right now that would be much more difficult and much more costly to produce with other materials.
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I'm sorry, but that's just word salad - it doesn't actually make sense. Even if it did, it would still be easily accounted for with control tissue.
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On the contrary, who didn't?
Ah ah ah yeah!
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I am longing for plastic-eating bacteria to be released into the wild. There are other materials we can use.
The medical field would be categorically fuct. Just the loss of sterile packaging would have serious consequences. Minimally invasive surgeries, joint replacements, bandages that don't adhere to wounds, stents...
Then let's consider cordage. Mountain climbing, arborists, rescue teams, sailboats (the most efficient way to cross oceans), ships, construction... the loss of just Dyneema/UHMWPE, which is a relatively new entrant to the cordage field would have seriously negative impacts.
There is a lot of energy bound up in those long molecules, and there are no unexploited niches in balanced ecosystems. There are already bacteria that can consume certain polymers under narrow conditions. Humanity is gonna be so screwed for a long time if bacteria can slip those narrow parameters.
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I think that's mostly an issue in America. Here in Europe you can always drink tap water.
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It's not just whether tap water is potable, it's also about availability. My job gives us water in bottles because we're mobile for 12 hours at a time, and nowhere near accessible water pipes. I guess I'm fucked.
If I were you I would buy re-usable glass or metal bottles and fill them up before leaving
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Yes but to a much lesser extent. The act of merely breaking the seal on the cap injects a lot of plastic into the liquid, so skipping that has to count for something
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Is this before or after injecting the bleach?
Pshh don't be silly, that would kill you!
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I am longing for plastic-eating bacteria to be released into the wild. There are other materials we can use.
We first need a way to use them to consume plastic in a controlled manner. There are things that simply would not be possible without these polymers and that we do not want destroyed.
