1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:06,440 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hi 2 00:00:06,559 --> 00:00:08,960 Speaker 1: brain Stuff, I'm more in vogel bomb in. Today's episode 3 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:12,560 Speaker 1: is another classic from our archives. It's about the discovery 4 00:00:12,600 --> 00:00:17,040 Speaker 1: in of bacteria that can eat certain types of plastic 5 00:00:17,360 --> 00:00:20,200 Speaker 1: and thus break it down, giving us hope that we 6 00:00:20,280 --> 00:00:22,159 Speaker 1: may one day be able to make a dent in 7 00:00:22,239 --> 00:00:27,760 Speaker 1: humanity's plastic waste. These bacteria are still being researched. Scientists say, 8 00:00:27,800 --> 00:00:30,840 Speaker 1: we're unfortunately still years away from being to put this 9 00:00:30,880 --> 00:00:37,480 Speaker 1: discovery into practical use, but it's still a fascinating discovery. Hey, 10 00:00:37,560 --> 00:00:40,920 Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren vogel Bomb Here. One of the amazing 11 00:00:40,960 --> 00:00:44,440 Speaker 1: things about our universe is that nothing really goes to waste. 12 00:00:44,760 --> 00:00:48,000 Speaker 1: For instance, you the incredible master work that you are 13 00:00:48,479 --> 00:00:51,640 Speaker 1: happened to be composed of the trash that exploded out 14 00:00:51,760 --> 00:00:55,120 Speaker 1: of a supernova. In every nook and cranny of the cosmos, 15 00:00:55,320 --> 00:00:59,520 Speaker 1: the universe is reorganizing and reusing. It is the great 16 00:00:59,680 --> 00:01:04,920 Speaker 1: resaw cycler. Our planet recycles everything, water, carbon, nutrients of 17 00:01:04,959 --> 00:01:08,080 Speaker 1: all kinds, So it stands to reason that we'd be 18 00:01:08,319 --> 00:01:11,800 Speaker 1: really good at recycling stuff here on Earth. But we 19 00:01:12,040 --> 00:01:16,240 Speaker 1: humans are only so so recyclers take plastic. We do 20 00:01:16,280 --> 00:01:18,959 Speaker 1: a great job of digging up ancient deposits of carbon 21 00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:22,480 Speaker 1: in order to make the stuff, which is recycling sort of. 22 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:26,760 Speaker 1: But since the nineteen forties, we've manufactured mind boggling amounts 23 00:01:26,760 --> 00:01:29,200 Speaker 1: of a material that will likely hang out in the 24 00:01:29,280 --> 00:01:34,039 Speaker 1: environment for centuries, killing wildlife and leaching toxic chemicals. Only 25 00:01:34,080 --> 00:01:37,800 Speaker 1: about ten percent of that is ever recycled. But in 26 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:42,959 Speaker 1: a Japanese research team discovered bacteria making some inroads into 27 00:01:43,040 --> 00:01:47,920 Speaker 1: plastics recycling where we humans were failing. Poly Ethylene tarithalate, 28 00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:52,480 Speaker 1: or PET plastics are everywhere, most notably in plastic soda 29 00:01:52,520 --> 00:01:55,680 Speaker 1: and water bottles, and the bonds that hold its molecules 30 00:01:55,720 --> 00:01:58,320 Speaker 1: together are very strong. So it was something of a 31 00:01:58,360 --> 00:02:01,400 Speaker 1: surprise when a colony of these bacteria were discovered in 32 00:02:01,440 --> 00:02:06,640 Speaker 1: a Japanese landfill. But what's their secret? In a issue 33 00:02:06,680 --> 00:02:09,600 Speaker 1: of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 34 00:02:09,880 --> 00:02:13,720 Speaker 1: an international group of researchers reported on the pet busting 35 00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:17,440 Speaker 1: enzyme produced by these bacteria. Not only did they map 36 00:02:17,480 --> 00:02:19,880 Speaker 1: the structure of the enzyme, but in the process of 37 00:02:19,919 --> 00:02:23,040 Speaker 1: studying and tinkering with it, they also made it faster. 38 00:02:23,800 --> 00:02:25,799 Speaker 1: Turns out it was all a bit of an accident. 39 00:02:26,720 --> 00:02:30,160 Speaker 1: Lead author Greg Beckham, senior engineer at the National Renewable 40 00:02:30,240 --> 00:02:33,520 Speaker 1: Energy Laboratory, said in a press release. We hoped to 41 00:02:33,560 --> 00:02:36,880 Speaker 1: determine its structure to aid in protein engineering, but we 42 00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:39,920 Speaker 1: ended up going a step further and accidentally engineered an 43 00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:43,840 Speaker 1: enzyme with improved performance at breaking down these plastics. What 44 00:02:43,960 --> 00:02:45,880 Speaker 1: we've learned is that p E t A s is 45 00:02:45,960 --> 00:02:49,760 Speaker 1: not yet fully optimized to degrade PET, and now that 46 00:02:49,800 --> 00:02:51,960 Speaker 1: we've shown this, it's time to apply the tools of 47 00:02:51,960 --> 00:02:56,240 Speaker 1: protein engineering and evolution to continue to improve it. The 48 00:02:56,240 --> 00:02:58,040 Speaker 1: goal of this research is to find a way to 49 00:02:58,120 --> 00:03:00,960 Speaker 1: create an enzyme that works fast and to break down 50 00:03:01,200 --> 00:03:04,920 Speaker 1: huge amounts of pet plastic into its component parts so 51 00:03:04,960 --> 00:03:08,480 Speaker 1: it can be turned back into plastic bottles. One possible 52 00:03:08,520 --> 00:03:11,560 Speaker 1: solution is to plant this mutant enzyme into bacteria that 53 00:03:11,600 --> 00:03:15,120 Speaker 1: can withstand insanely high temperatures, which might break the plastic 54 00:03:15,160 --> 00:03:19,400 Speaker 1: down ten to a hundred times quicker, or whatever it takes. Y'all, 55 00:03:19,840 --> 00:03:24,360 Speaker 1: we humans buy one million plastic bottles every minute. Reduce 56 00:03:24,400 --> 00:03:27,720 Speaker 1: and recycle your plastic waste. But it also can't hurt 57 00:03:27,720 --> 00:03:30,280 Speaker 1: to keep your fingers crossed for these bacteria to work 58 00:03:30,280 --> 00:03:37,640 Speaker 1: out Today's episode is based on the article plastic eating enzyme, 59 00:03:37,760 --> 00:03:40,440 Speaker 1: Maybe our Planet's New Hope on how stuff works dot Com. 60 00:03:40,560 --> 00:03:43,600 Speaker 1: Written by Dslin Shields. Brain Stuffs production of I Heart 61 00:03:43,680 --> 00:03:45,880 Speaker 1: Radio in partnership with stuff works dot Com and it's 62 00:03:45,880 --> 00:03:49,160 Speaker 1: produced by Tyler Clay. Four more podcasts from my heart Radio. 63 00:03:49,400 --> 00:03:52,200 Speaker 1: Visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 64 00:03:52,200 --> 00:03:53,480 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.