That's why I always help Mother Nature by eating my daily dose of microplastics.

@aahkari

Жыл бұрын

💀💀

@dread69420

Жыл бұрын

👀👀

@DBT1007

Жыл бұрын

That.. Funny but also sad because it's the reality of our world these days. U think you're free from microplastics, people? Think again. How about plastic particles in your drink. In your food from plastic packaging too. Also dont forget the fine tiny plastic particles in the air. Also.. If you sniff or breath close to clothes or bag or shoes made from polyester or polyethylene or something like that, that also produces microplastics. u can find "plastic fashion" often in the school and sports equipment and stuff. those jerseys made from plastics. also the shoes n backpack.

@idontknowok5632

Жыл бұрын

Thats great! Keep it up.🙂

@Madverdrive

Жыл бұрын

Hol up

These Japanese scientists deserve the Nobel Prize. Solving these plastic issues represents a significant breakthrough.

@221b_Bakerstreet

Жыл бұрын

Nobel r often given to the inventions that have more future potential than it seems to have today. More like a key to a series of future inventions that thereby result in greatest benefit on mankind. On that ground you're right Saitama, they deserve a Nobel.

@roadwarrior528

Жыл бұрын

Nah, give another one to Obama instead.

When we say 10% of wasted plastics are recycled, it makes it sounds like an average person does not do a good job recycling, but, it may be due to the fact that some plastic products are inherently not recyclable, such as plastic wrap/bags, electronics, and smaller plastics imbedded into textiles such as clothes and furniture. While it's important to push ourselves to recycle and live a sustainable lifestyle, I think it's also important to stop large scale producers to make certain things in the first place that don't need to be made. 400 million tons of plastic produced per year sure sounds awful

@gabriellamcfield5472

Жыл бұрын

Yes! You hit it right on the nose. While the average person/consumer has an environmental responsibility, it is large corporations who create the most waste in the name of cutting costs and increasing their profits. I think therefore that the main environmental responsibility of consumers right now is to pressure corporations to change their practices. They should buy as many eco-friendly products as possible and (casually) boycott harmful traditional ones as best as they can. They should also push for laws against excessive waste. And they should also push to get corporate money out of politics! Many proposals intended to decrease the amount of waste corporations produce have been struck down because corporations pay to advertise against them or pay politicians to vote against them.

@wendig00n

Жыл бұрын

@@gabriellamcfield5472 Revolt against the Machine

@lindabooker3512

Жыл бұрын

Gabriella McField I agree. However, it’s like trying to get politicians to agree on reasonable gun rights.

@xXSpamMeNotXx

Жыл бұрын

It’s also because the rest of the world doesn’t have infrastructure to handle recycling on a large scale.

@bruhbruh5621

Жыл бұрын

fr

It's absolutely mind-boggling when you think that these microbes, which are at such a small scale, can make a huge difference in the world--whether it be good or bad. It's hard to wrap my mind around, but certainly a topic worth to contemplate!

@aguyontheinternet8436

Жыл бұрын

Well there are a lot of them

@genericscout5408

Жыл бұрын

if they ever became widespread it'd be as bad as any apocalypse. If it's something that's confined to specific small zones it might not cause planes to blow up and crash or cars to catch on fire randomly.

@vogeline_

Жыл бұрын

@@genericscout5408 but only if these things are made of pet. If pet would start decaying it'll mean we'll stop producing it, wich would mean that barely anything even changed. Its up to us to make a difference.

YOU GUYS WIIL NOT BELIEVE THIS . I did a project on saving the oceans , and i researched about this bacteria to help me put forward my idea . This bacteria made me win first prize in those competitions . If this bacteria actually starts getting used , its going to be a huge success

@Badbitchica

Жыл бұрын

That's great! and yes, those plastivores are the boon of our prevailing biosphere. Until now, there have been some methods to discard micro-plastic but not so efficient and eco-friendly and in conclusion, this might be our only resort.

@hitmanekoyslnp8572

Жыл бұрын

Share a link to a doc or blog about itM

@dabeastle7116

Жыл бұрын

Poggers my guy

@lovelyseeker89

Жыл бұрын

Do you ever think if this got produced more they can eat while city plastic

@vogeline_

Жыл бұрын

What if the bacteria starts decaying plastic that's still used? Won't the people who produce plastic stop making plastic that can decay this easily?

It’s so cool but also terrifying that we can engineer biology to do our bidding and help save the planet

@Gebri3l

Жыл бұрын

This whole universe is playground for humans to do as we please. Keeping good and bad in mind

@wendig00n

Жыл бұрын

@@Gebri3l good philosophy to follow!

@Odood19

Жыл бұрын

Yeah imagine if they bio-engineered something to PRODUCE plastics and then they got out. That could be a sci fi horror movie

@catdogmousecheese

Жыл бұрын

Actually, humans have been manipulating the DNA of other life forms for tens of thousands of years through methods like selective breeding and cross pollination. For example, chickens weren't always flightless, but over thousands of years of selective breeding chickens eventually lost the ability to fly. Corn is another example; there's no such thing as wild corn because corn stalks can't scatter their seeds without the aid of humans.

@Odood19

Жыл бұрын

@@catdogmousecheese Yeah there is so much fear mongering related to genetic modification/engineering and biotech. But would we be willing to give up our dogs? How about wheat that doesn't drop its seeds? I wouldn't think so. I for one am glad that people figured out how to manipulate life forms to our benefit. Where would we be without domesticated cereal grain? Probably dying in caves by age 20.

Genetic engineering is such a good concept. You may question its ethicality but at the end of the day, it is objectively great IF done right.

@LuddyFish_

Жыл бұрын

Very much so. I remember my biology class having a debate whether it was ethically right to modify baby genes. We discussed if we should even modify genes at all, even if we could remove a gene that causes a baby to live no longer than a year. Or should we be able to modify genes so that all future generations can run as fast as Usain Bolt. Science is neutral. It is only good or bad by the intentions of the user.

@lordbanetheplayer8844

Жыл бұрын

@@LuddyFish_ It is like magic.

@relaxwithhanzo5446

Жыл бұрын

@@LuddyFish_ i really want to create microorganisms that can eat all of the thrashes that we have made

@thalassaer4137

Жыл бұрын

@@relaxwithhanzo5446 i wanna make ones that itll only a certain race-

@halalaccount3918

Жыл бұрын

Yep IF DONE RIGHT

This is exactly what i studying now. We try to characterize and isolate them (the microbes) from polluted freshwater. I suggest there will be many research studies about the microbes that could degrade many type of microplastics. Hopefully we can use them as a sollution of water pollution in the future.

@green-green-grass

Жыл бұрын

Goodness! Same xD

@landinobin4835

Жыл бұрын

If plastic degrading microbes become very common, will they obsolete plastic? We use plastic for packaging and to make items that should last long without degrading.

Can we take a moment to appreciate the creativity of the animators🙌🏾

The end of the world is going to be the sound of one guy in a lab saying "heh heh, it worked" - Jon Stewart

@iamgreatalwaysgreat8209

Жыл бұрын

I dont think its good idea to bio engineer virus/microbes to eat plastic, it could severely back fire and cause plastic epidemic, plastic is good only because of its pertainess.

@joanhoffman3702

Жыл бұрын

😳😳😳😳😳

it's good to know that there's still hope to improve our life and utilize these for the environment

Hearing Addison's voice in new TED-Ed content is a blessing 😇

As a chemistry student, the amount of giddyness I gained from this knowledge when I first read about it is unimaginable.

Ted-Ed, thank you for existing 😭❤️

Imagine if the polyethylene could eventually be degraded to ethanol and used for sanitisers using fermentation or assisted by it. Or something of the sort.

@teodorcornea7014

Жыл бұрын

Or for drinking!

@DBT1007

Жыл бұрын

That for big plastic. How about microplastics? That's hard thing

@rustyshackle917

Жыл бұрын

Imagine holding the plastics industry responsible for the environmental disaster they've created.

@aguyontheinternet8436

Жыл бұрын

@@teodorcornea7014 Delicious pure ethanol

@DBT1007

Жыл бұрын

@@rustyshackle917 also imagine having more than 2 children. Or even 10 children. You're actively destroying environment faster because each human have needs. We all need metal, wood, minerals, plants, energy, job, and also produces waste. Even if you're vegan, u still need wood. U actively destroying things.

The only thing that worries me about microbes breaking down plastics at normal temperatures is that it makes it easy to break down plastic in places it really shouldn't be, i.e. everyday technology

@kennyloong90

Жыл бұрын

back to square one invent plastic that cant be break down for eg. electrical insulator etc

@winzyl9546

Жыл бұрын

As long as you dont dip your phone in dirt for long periods of time

I absolutely love the style of this video. Keep it up TED-Ed. You never disappoint.

I used this video to complete my thesis on plastic waste

By “we” , you realize it’s Corporations who decide what materials are used for their products. The same corporations who’ve bought and paid the politicians that pass the laws that further destroy this amazing planet 🌍

@RMProjects785

Ай бұрын

Do corporations just pollute for fun? Who's buying from these companies to allow them to continue these practices?

Everyday I learn more from this channel and that's awesome

We desperately need to tax the plastics industry to fund programs that will 1) Research PE/PP consuming enzymes, 2) Research plastic replacement materials, and 3) programs to collect and bio-degrade all existing PET waste

congrats TED-Ed team. you Never stop to amaze me . this one is one of your Best videos Ever! Thank you for your creations I'm gladly digesting it Right now

This is by far my favourite animation style of TEDEd's videos!

Can't wait to see this apply in real world. It would be a game changer. Kudos to all who are part of this study

Oh great, now we gonna have an underground city full of robots with one stray cat running around solving things...

i have a science project and we chose this topic... this was spectacular timing. Thank you TED-Ed

Excellent video!

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle is the motto I live by in my everyday life. I love this planet and everyone and everything on it, so I try my best to keep it going for as long as the LORD allows.

i'm glad this science is progressing slowly. I'm not ready for hospitals to need to deal with plastic eating mold outbreaks

will this evolve into Zurk?

another great video

This is soooo cool!

excellent - two cents on such an important matter

Really useful information 👍

I hope this knowledge is applied in elementary school, because we need this as a general knowledge #saveearth

@johnharrison7585

Жыл бұрын

Save people.

@winzyl9546

Жыл бұрын

Then what? What exactly do you expect elementary kids to do about this?

I know that there are insects that can bite through PE and PP and I read that they have MOs (microorganisms) in them that can brake down the small PE and PP pieces into for the insect harmless substances. I believe it was only a Wikipedia article, but maybe we should look into that.

Nice video.

Great video! Though I believe it would be beneficial to also discuss evolution of plastic-eating processes in comparison to the evolution and decomposition of wood, which for millions of years after its first appearance, was also like plastic in that nothing could really eat it or break it down. Even now, very few organisms actually can destroy or digest it, and they still do so rather slowly, but they do so steadily and at low temperatures. Even though you and I would have to heat wood up to hundreds of degrees to degrade it quickly, AKA burn it, you don't NEED those temperatures if you're willing to be patient.

This video has one of the best Ted-ed animacion ever made

A question: Once scientists are able to engineer a microbe able to effectively degrade plastics fast, what happens next? What is going to prevent these same microbes from spreading and eating food packaging, medicine/drug packaging and packaging for other perishable stuff? In such a scenario what do we do? Go back to glass packaging?

@ayaanmohammad6645

Жыл бұрын

Well, as they mentioned at the end, we need to change what plastics we use or even if we use them at all.

@angus2862

Жыл бұрын

We already have biodegradable packaging...

@aminulhussain2277

Жыл бұрын

What happens next is that plastic now rots.

@Juandro97

Жыл бұрын

We wouldn't be using the microbes themselves. As mentioned in the video, we use these microbes to produce large quantities of the plastic degrading enzymes. Unlike the microbes, enzymes don't spread or reproduce, they eventually just stop functioning.

@hatchling88

Жыл бұрын

It's amazing to contemplate, I know, but plastics are quite new.... we got along without them for centuries. Practical substitutes already exist and must be encouraged, with plastics discouraged. Taxes, regulation, incentives, rules... whatever is appropriate, needs to be used to force plastics out of manufacturing and packaging. Consumer education is helpful, but when plastics are EVERYWHERE, we can only do so much as there are few alternatives and plastics are cheap. So, yes, producers need to be encouraged to use readily recycled packaging like paper, aluminum and glass. We can do our part by purchasing and using re-usables or biodegradable produces. For just one example, don't buy plastic cups, buy paper. Don't buy your soda in plastic bottles, chose aluminum or glass... both are non-toxic and readily recyclable.

A small step for a microbe, a giant leap for mankind 💚

3:03 Microbe Pacman!!!!!!

Ted-ed, do a video on how car engines work (if you haven't already) and difference between electric and gas cars

very informative

Isn't this what created the Zurgs in Stray?

Manh! The animation is really cool

Awesome animation and amazing narration as usual TED Ed!!!

@vihangathathsara1073

Жыл бұрын

indeed

Thank you, private enterprise, free markets, profit reason & capitalism.

People with Plastic surgeries: Sweats nervously*

- Well, when these bacterias become too many what will we do? What if they will interfere with production? How can people control them? Video is great.

@Meethejarate

8 ай бұрын

What I think about it: Bacteria probably won’t be enough to actually destroy enough plastic to make tons of change We shouldn’t really be creating plastic in the first place We can probably control and destroy bacteria that are in plastic plants

The real question is, are these microbes gonna have nil or minimal impact on the ecosystem if we introduce them to the soil? (Like, not altering the natural beneficial microflora in a particular environment where it's gonna be introduced)

A ray of hope

RESPECT FROM INDONESIA...

Life finds a way

All marine life depends on us to clean the ocean and engineer new ways to clean it up.

Nature always pick up the slack of humanity, I am not surprised nature fixed our problem. 💯❤️👏🏿 Love the video as always.

Ah if only big corporations and government would listen to scientists...

@furonwarrior

Жыл бұрын

Honestly, even if they did, we wouldn’t be able to produce a lot of the products we have today without plastics. We could eliminate most single use plastic and some items such as plastic tooth brushes and cleaning detergent jugs with water. Corporations could help fund research to find and culture microbes to eliminate the micro and nano plastics. It would also allow them to produce more products too as there is less guilt among consumers and local governments. But realistically, humanity is going to kill itself. It’s just a matter of how much time can we buy before the quality of life no longer becomes worth living. Enjoy the moment while we have it.

@johnharrison7585

Жыл бұрын

Yea they listens to scientists and got people caged in their homes and injected with poison. I think the scientists need to shut up for a long time.

Fascinating what we can do. Either way, I must say, we are not killing our planet, just ourselves. The planet and life will survive us by a long shot, and in a couple million years there won’t be a trace of us ever existing. But life will persist.

@RMProjects785

Ай бұрын

bs. We'll live for billions of years onwards

1:24 The plastic ring can only be destroyed in one place. In the fires once used to forge it.

Good day, 👍 Great Videos! 😃 Well researched. Do you all have research and videos dealing with what is alzimers and how to improve or slow down the process?

Using microbes to "eat" plastic might backfire as the long term results are unknown. They hold promise and should be carefully studied prior to losing them in the environment. It's truly better to stop using so many plastics, especially single use. What did we use for disposables before plastics? Biodegradable materials like paper, wood, cloth, plant and animal byproducts. We also used, still do, perpetually re-usable materials like actual china, glass and metal utensils, dishware and servers. Stores sold items in degradable packaging made from cardboard and paper. We didn't have all our purchases handed over in plastic bags... they were placed in paper bags, cardboard boxes, or we brought our own bags and baskets. We've become so lazy and complacent... people can't even be bothered to bring their own grocery totes from the car. I don't like excessive regulations or government rules, but something must encourage or force people and businesses to change their ways.

I really like the music in this

@bizzy5108

Жыл бұрын

Same lol 😂

Whatever we do or harm mother nature but it fights back and finds a way to heal itself.

@johnharrison7585

Жыл бұрын

OK pagan

Reminds me of the movie "The Graduate" when plastic technology was all the rage.

Sounds great. Have we all read 1970's SFI, Mutant 59, or watched BBC Doomwatch also from the '70's? How much damage will this do when it escapes into the wild?

I can hardly wait for these to escape into our cities and homes. They will, you know.

I didnt know plastic under wears exist

@TheChadPad

Жыл бұрын

You know those stretchy "athletic" boxers? Those are plastic

Can't believe we still can't find microbes that break down peepees

for the ones that will never be edible to microbes, i guess we could make diatoms that use microplastics instead of silica and they’ll be bioluminescent so we could grab them to remove plastic

Mirciplastics really do taste great.

Now that we have these bacteriums or whatever you call it, time to learn more of the benefits and disadvantages.

I wish this video talked more about microcplatistcs too like it’s already in our bodies can they be broken down after we die? Or we’re also carrying around more plastics that will leech back into the environment. I NEED ANSWERS

Anyone else just watch these videos only for the soothing voice?

Seems like feasible!

Mass produced plastics in 1950s, within the span of 70 years we have identified how bad plastics can be and have started taking measures like banning and finding solutions to degrade them. This PACE of progress is extremely fast compared to our human timeline. Humanity's future is very bright.

Great

That can change everything

Am I the only one that's scared that these kinda bacteria can seriously ruin the kind of plastic we DON'T want to be degraded?

I admire this channel a lot. The diversity of their topics is infinite. But one thing in concern, there are no enough videos on History on trail. Can you people make frequent videos on that?

2:21 the way these fish died

There is hope. We can all do our part in saving mother earth "Gaia".

Make a video about Aurdino 🙂

What kind of biproduct is produced by microbes eating PET? Do they poop? Do they grow and reproduce? What happens when the plymer is "digested"?

@nonamesleft136

Жыл бұрын

What happens when they die? Do they get eaten?

@erikteutloff2183

Жыл бұрын

@@nonamesleft136 @ancientwestonian PET gets degraded into its monomers of ethylene glycol and terephthalic acid. On whether or not they poop... that depends on your definition, I guess. If your breathing out carbon dioxide counts as pooping, then yes. As bacteria are living organisms, they do indeed grow and multiply. Bacteria can do this asexually through a process called mitosis, where a "parental" cell splits into two "daughter" cells after having doubled its genetic information (so it can give one copy to each of its "daughter" cells). Usually, when bacteria die, their either killed by a predator, like an amoeba, eaten by a bigger organism and digested in their stomach acid, or because of environmental factors, like acidity/osmolarity (too much/little salt)/starvation/toxins/etc. In the last case, some can form spores to endure the conditions and start growing again later when conditions have improved. Other bacteria that do not have this ability will die, and their cell wall and membrane will degrade (called lysis). Whatever little nutrients it has will be released into the environment, where it will probably be a nutrient source for other microbes.

I might be misunderstanding but they said 30% of 400 Million tons is 10 Million tons ? Or maybe the missing quantity has been recycled from the oceans (each year)

Neat

So what are the by products of those bacteria when they digest the plastic?

Mother nature's all ready doing it

that's nice. so when are we going to implement it. crikey!

I wonder if RL/ML techniques can help engineer these enzymes and microbes to tailor them to consume different kinds of plastics

Awesome channel with awesome content and great quality as always say 🌍💯

there goes the immortality of certain projects using plastic (recycled or otherwise). eg. uses plastic in undersea cables cause it lasts ... or used to. 😆

I recently purchased the bose qc2 35 headphones 3d and an iPhone.......amazing what I am learning about the world 🌎 😀 😄

Now if our government we're so serious about resolving the plastic crisis they'd spend money on this type of research.

*starts fading away*

But of course there's a catch: part of the usefulness of plastics is their durability. Maybe in a few years we start finding that bacteria are eating all our stuff

Why are we not using PLA instead of other plastics?

I don't know a huge amount about this topic or anything, but from what I do know, the problem is that plastics are cheap and easily produced, so producers don't have much a reason to change. You would think literally saving the planet would be a good motivator change, but unfortunately, money is usually a better one, and what they're doing now is bringing in a reliable source of money and change might affect that. I don't want to get political (because I don't know politics lol), but that just seems to be a pretty common theme from what I've noticed.

@johnharrison7585

Жыл бұрын

Why is plastics being cheap a problem? Do you want poor people to spend more?

@eris9062

Жыл бұрын

@@johnharrison7585 That's not at all what they're saying, and nice virtue signalling by the way. No, what they're saying is that the issue is the lack of cheap alternatives to plastic, which incentivises companies to use plastic due to their cheap cost, so to help reduce the amount of plastic produced a cheap environmentally friendly alternative is needed.

@lepyroshark1940

Жыл бұрын

@@eris9062 Thank you, you said it better than I could have. As someone who has faced the threat of losing many luxuries due to financial problems, I absolutely don't think it's bad that it's cheap. Like Eris said, the problem is that there's no real safe alternative, and so we're stuck with a product that just causes more and more environmental damage.

PET is PolyEthylene Terephthalate. Didn't expect TED to make such a mistake.

@GD-poppy-ZY2ii

Жыл бұрын

pp

I'd heard about this potential breakthrough before and my one big follow-up question about these microbial plastivores is, "What by-products do they emit/ create from breaking down PET?" It seems like a logical guess that they might emit a greenhouse gas or oxygen. PET, like all polymers (including all plastics), is a chain of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen (specifically C10H8O4). If it were broken down into carbon dioxide (CO2) or methane (CH4), that could have even further severe effects on the oceans and atmosphere -- adding yet another layer into just how bad continued heavy use of plastics is bad (as currently, all of that potential CO, CO2 and/ or CH4 that could further warm the atmosphere is "locked" in these plastics).

@Meethejarate

8 ай бұрын

Yeah, honestly we shouldn’t be creating plastic in the first place, because making plastic in the first place makes Co2

Fungi! Please start looking into the fungi industry to replace plastic!!