Incredible work, but I’m happy to stick with the dough-based varieties.
Cookies produced from upcycled plastic may sound like something straight out of a dystopian sci-fi plot. But researchers say that they have succeeded in creating such a product as part of a Nasa-funded project aimed at feeding astronauts on future space missions.
The technology uses specially designed yeasts to transform plastics and agricultural waste into edible proteins, fats and flavourings. The resulting slurry is passed through a 3D printer to create a disc-shaped “cookie”.
“My lab works on developing technologies for plastic upcycling,” said Dr Lahiru Jayakody, a microbiologist at the Southern Illinois University Carbondale, who led the project. “We thought, why not look into food? Plastic is carbon and food is carbon.”
….and use genetic manipulation to breed animals that thrive on eating the “animal feed” while turning it into flesh that tastes like filet mignon, wild salmon, and chicken….
I look forward to the plastics in cars, airplanes, eyeglasses, and, well, everything, being eaten by lab-escaped yeast. Oh wait, that’s the plot of several scifi stories
In Ringworld (The Ringworld Engineers), Larry Niven mentions a historical Earth event where a genetically engineered yeast or bacteria capable of eating polyethylene consumed plastic packaging off supermarket shelves, forcing humanity to completely abandon the material
Would not freeze dried food be easier to reconstitute than the energy required to convert plastic? I think that is a novel idea but it still seems less effective than simply using powdered or dried food.
