this post was submitted on 05 Jun 2024

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Scientists Find Plastic-Eating Fungus Feasting on Great Pacific Garbage Patch (futurism.com)

submitted 6 months ago by schizoidman@lemmy.ml to c/science@lemmy.world

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/16488358

Scientists Find Plastic-Eating Fungus Feasting on Great Pacific Garbage Patch

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[–] Chocrates@lemmy.world 5 points 6 months ago

For earth and the surviving creatures on it this is probably great news, but this is probably going to be a problem for humans in the short term. Plastic is this magic material that is immune to degradation and microbes, now that is no longer the case.

Ultimately that will be a good thing, but think about sanitized plastic medical equipment, now it can slowly be eaten up by microbes that we didn't have to worry about before.