Tag: that’s amazing

did-you-kno:

Despite being dead for over a year,
famous author Agatha Christie saved a
baby’s life in 1977. Her novel The Pale
Horse described thallium poisoning so
well that a nurse who’d been reading it
was able to diagnose a sick infant, who
had doctors stumped. The baby was
immediately tested, they found traces
of thallium, doctors changed treatments,
and her life had suddenly been saved by
a 16-year-old murder mystery novel. Source Source 2 Source 3

Scientists accidentally create mutant enzyme that eats plastic bottles

mindblowingscience:

Scientists have created a mutant enzyme that breaks down plastic drinks bottles – by accident. The breakthrough could help solve the global plastic pollution crisis by enabling for the first time the full recycling of bottles.

The new research was spurred by the discovery in 2016 of the first bacterium that had naturally evolved to eat plastic, at a waste dump in Japan. Scientists have now revealed the detailed structure of the crucial enzyme produced by the bug.

The international team then tweaked the enzyme to see how it had evolved, but tests showed they had inadvertently made the molecule even better at breaking down the PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic used for soft drink bottles. “What actually turned out was we improved the enzyme, which was a bit of a shock,” said Prof John McGeehan, at the University of Portsmouth, UK, who led the research. “It’s great and a real finding.”

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Scientists accidentally create mutant enzyme that eats plastic bottles