this post was submitted on 30 Aug 2026

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Scientists Turn Plastic Waste Into Edible Cookies Because That’s the Future We Deserve (futurism.com)

submitted 2 days ago by sundray@lemmus.org to c/nottheonion@lemmy.world

87 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Are we eating enough plastic already?

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[–] kibblebits@quokk.au 23 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Wait they haven’t even tasted it? If I was a scientist turning plastic into food I would be at least licking it.

[–] terranoid@lemmy.cafe 35 points 2 days ago (7 children)

Probably concerned about worst case scenarios. This is a bioengineered yeast that eats PET. What if it populates your gut and fucks up your gut fauna and hurts you?

What if you shit it out and it gets into some waste area with lots of plastic and starts multiplying uncontrollably?

What if it evolved to eat other plastic and now all our current plastic starts literally molding?

There's a lot of weird shit that you can be concerned about. Might be low risk but low risk of extreme new scenario.

[–] jdr@lemmy.ml 10 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Ice-9 but for plastic!

[–] idiomaddict@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Or like Ritonavir

[–] SlurpingPus@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

Widespread contamination with such microscopic seed crystals may lead to the impression that the original polymorph has "disappeared". In a few cases, such as progesterone and paroxetine hydrochloride, the disappearance gradually spread across the world, and it is suspected that it is because Earth's atmosphere has over time become permeated with tiny seed crystals. It is believed that seeds as small as a few million molecules (about 10^−15 grams) are sufficient for converting one morph to another, making unwanted disappearance of morphs particularly difficult to prevent.

Remarkable. Actual sci-fi grade stuff.

[–] jdr@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 day ago

Very cool!

[–] TIN@feddit.uk 5 points 2 days ago

Niche reference but I'm here for it

[–] Rhaedas@fedia.io 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

What if it evolved to eat other plastic and now all our current plastic starts literally molding?

Side plot point in Niven's Ringworld/Protector series, only with superconductors.

[–] Quetzalcutlass@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

And also in The Andromeda Strain.

[–] suodrazah@lemmy.ml 6 points 2 days ago

Sounds great! The world will recover, without the scourge of plastics!

[–] sidebro@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 days ago

Those are mental images that I didn't want

[–] soffernyx@piefed.zip 1 points 2 days ago

Acceptable damage.

[–] NaibofTabr@infosec.pub 1 points 2 days ago

Yeah, unintended consequences can be devastating.

[–] kibblebits@quokk.au 1 points 2 days ago

Can’t be any worse than fast food!

[–] ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net 11 points 2 days ago (1 children)

It's possible they did taste it but can't say it because they didn't get permissions to do it.

[–] Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago

Bingo. They 100% ate it, but the university lawyers don’t want to be liable for poisoning a bunch of grad students.

So everyone’s going to pretend the students didn’t eat the plastic cookies.

[–] GreyEyedGhost@piefed.ca 3 points 2 days ago

Get NileBlue on the case!