Bacteria are demonic in the human mind. Why? Because most of them are linked to diseases, it will affect people's physical health.
Bacteria are the causative agent of many diseases
So what diseases do bacteria cause? How does it affect a person's physical health? Are all bacteria harmful? Have people remodeled it? The latest japanese research points out that a "superbug" has been discovered, and after modification, this bacterium will benefit the whole world. Is this really reliable?
Diseases caused by bacteria
Bacteria are single-celled organisms, so small that they can only be observed with a microscope. It also has a variety of shapes, spherical, rod-shaped, spiral-shaped, etc., is the largest number of organisms, usually distributed in soil and water, and of course also coexists with other organisms, such as humans. Many bacteria can cause diseases, such as meningococcus can cause meningitis, E. coli, Salmonella, etc. may cause enteritis. Inflammation is the most important pathogenic way for bacteria to invade the human body and endanger human health.
Bacteria enter the human body in various ways
Of course, their impact on human health is also related to many aspects. For example, the toxicity and quantity of pathogenic bacteria, if the number of small and less toxic bacteria enters the human body, then the body's own immune mechanism can deal with these bacteria well and will not cause great harm.
However, if a large number of highly toxic bacteria are entered into the human body, then the body's own immune system can not resist, and can only rely on the corresponding drug treatment to eliminate the influence of bacteria. In order to avoid the invasion of bacteria, people should protect themselves from harm as much as possible, especially the integrity of the skin and mucous membranes, bacteria will always take advantage of the body injury, through the wound into the body to do harm.
After the injury, it is necessary to deal with it with a tight grip to avoid bacteria taking advantage of the void
However, not all bacteria are harmful, such as lactic acid bacteria. People often use it to make yogurt to eat, which is the breakfast diet of many people. There is also the brewing of alcohol, which also requires the use of bacteria. Scientists will also study ways in which bacteria defeat bacteria, trying to create "superbugs" by modifying them.
Discovery and modification of superbugs
In 2016, researchers at Kyoto Institute of Technology in Japan stumbled upon a bacterium with lysozyme enzymes that can break down plastics, and although its decomposition efficiency is relatively slow and takes about six weeks to complete, this is already good news for humans.
Bacteria that eat plastic
Because plastic waste is a big problem all over the world, and the amount of difficult to degrade is high. Japan's discovery immediately aroused the interest of scientists from all over the world, since this bacterium already has the ability to dissolve plastics, it only needs to be modified to speed up its decomposition.
So, British scientists began, and France followed suit, and more and more scientists from different countries joined the super bacteria transformation plan. Of course, Japan is not idle, and the technology it discovered cannot let people get ahead.
Scientists who study superbugs
In 2018, the superbugs modified by British scientists were successful, and the ability of the modified bacteria to break down plastics was greatly improved, and the time was shortened a lot. What's more, this new superbug can break down more kinds of plastics than the initial version two years ago, so its practical application is also of greater significance. In 2020, French scientists also came up with results, and it has to be said that scientists are uncompromising compared to each other. They engineered the superbugs to have improved enzymes that are more soluble.
The researchers claim that this modified enzyme can enable bacteria to complete 90% of the decomposition of plastic products in as little as 10 hours.
French scientist experiment: performance improvement of different variants of LCC
This is really fast, you know, if you burn plastic waste directly, because the amount is too large, these plastic waste will have to burn for several hours. Not to mention how many toxic and harmful gases are produced by burning them.
However, the superbugs modified by scientists in these two countries have not been put into use in large quantities. This is not to say that people have found a way to deal with plastic waste, the problem of plastic waste is still very serious, but these modified bacteria need to be produced and reacted in a more harsh environment. However, where the plastic waste is, there are such perfect conditions, so the results of these two studies finally stopped in the laboratory.
A dump is not a lab without a specific environment
Japan has not had a chance to look at it, and they have been studying the modification of bacteria and have high expectations for the bacteria they first discovered. Finally, in January 2022, the Japanese announced that they had developed the superbugs that are most conducive to the decomposition of plastics.
This modified bacteria, combining the advantages of previous studies, has a strong ability to break down plastics, and more importantly, it can survive under normal temperature conditions of 30 degrees Celsius. That is to say, people do not have to worry about how to set up a suitable condition for plastic waste, which can be decomposed under natural conditions.
Japan's engineered superbugs are no longer limited by the environment
Of course, this is not to say that the location of plastic waste is always a 30-degree environment, after all, most of the garbage dumps are only outdoor open space. But compared to the previous harsh conditions, 30 degrees Celsius is already an easy condition to achieve, especially in the hot summer, and no intervention is required at all.
However, this superbug in Japan does not completely solve the plastic problem, and the results show that this bacterium mainly plays a role in pad plastic, and as for other types of plastic waste, it may have little impact. This will be a big obstacle in practical application, although all countries in the world are now implementing garbage classification, but it can no longer be specific to what type of plastic waste to use.
Current garbage sorting
The emergence and popularity of a new thing must be hindered by many obstacles, although the superbug studied in Japan still has some problems to be solved. But from a large point of view, the transformation of superbugs may indeed become a magic weapon to solve plastic waste, which is very reliable, and if it continues to be perfected, it is a very good thing for human society.
The generation of plastic waste
In 2020, the weight of plastic waste in the national takeaway garbage in the mainland will be about 578,000 tons to 1.6 million tons, and it will cost about 2.45 billion yuan to treat harmlessly. There are still about 75 million to 199 million tonnes of plastic waste in the ocean, accounting for 85% of the total weight of marine litter.
Marine litter can also cause great harm to marine life
Do you feel terrible when you see these numbers? Plastic products occupy a very important position in human production and life, from flosses and straws to billboards hanging on streets and highways, people's clothing, food, housing and travel have plastics in all aspects. The amount of use is more, the consumption will naturally become higher, and the plastic products are basically disposable, which increases the amount of plastic waste. The disposable paper cups, straws and plastic bags that people use are all garbage that is difficult to degrade.
A variety of disposable cutlery
The data shows that about 9.2 billion tons of plastic products were produced worldwide between 1950 and 2017, of which about 7 billion tons became plastic waste.
What does this mean? It shows that plastics are really difficult to degrade, and people can only dispose of them by landfilling and incineration, but incineration will produce a large number of toxic gases, which will be dispersed into the air and then inhaled by the human body, which will have a great impact on human health.
Plastic waste is a real headache
Although there are also merchants who advertise that the plastics they produce are degradable, in fact, their so-called degradation time is as long as decades, which is of no use at all. Due to the low cost of plastic products and the easy availability of raw materials, manufacturers like to make such products, and the convenience of plastic products also makes people very fond of such products, under the double pressure of buyers and sellers, their output and consumption can be low.
The reduction of plastic waste requires the joint efforts of everyone, starting from reducing the use of disposable dishes and chopsticks, and now many milk tea shops have also introduced degradable paper straws, and some supermarkets will ask customers at the checkout window whether they choose to use cloth bags.
Environmental life starts with me
Plastic waste in the ocean not only affects the ecological environment, but also endangers the health of marine life, and those who accidentally eat plastic waste may even face death.