Friday 27 March 2020

Eating Plastic

More than 8bn tons of almost indestructible and toxic plastics have been produced since the 1950s and much of it has been lurking in landfill dumps. Scientists have now identified, a new strain of bacterium that can gobble even polyurethane and use the energy to power itself (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/mar/27/scientists-find-bug-that-feasts-on-toxic-plastic). This is an interesting development but it is estimated that it will take at least 10 years of development to use the bug safely to remove this ubiquitous material (so, the best plan for now, is to reduce its production).

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What's In a Critter's Name? 11. Comma butterfly

The Comma butterfly ( Polygonia c-album) gets its name from the punctuation-like mark, on the underside of its wings.