NileRed on YouTube has done a few interesting things like turning plastic gloves into hot sauce through different chemical processes.
It’s more of a fun science demonstration than anything meant to be even remotely practical to create food from waste, and there are some pretty nasty chemicals involved in some of them that really have no business being anywhere near food
But it does I think drive home the point that everything is basically made out of the same stuff and it’s a matter of figuring out how to break it down and put it back together in the right way to be useful.
The alchemists were right, they just focused on the wrong area of the periodic table. We can’t turn lead into gold, but we can turn plastic into mouthwatering hamburgers!
It’s just so expensive it’s not worth doing except to see if you can
It’s also weirdly easiest to turn things much more radioactive but further away into gold, such as Osmium, but the gold that it produces is radioactive
You can turn lead into gold; it was something that was demonstrated in my HS science class. It’s just that the chemical used to make the change is far more valuable than the gold you get out of the process.
The researchers on this one are convinced they can eat the cookies. And while scientists underestimating personal risks isn’t unheard of (hence why they need university approval), it means there isn’t anything obviously dangerous with this process.
But it does I think drive home the point that everything is basically made out of the same stuff and it’s a matter of figuring out how to break it down and put it back together in the right way to be useful.
One step closer to my favorite utopia, Gay Space Communism* (replicators).
* coined by rightwing chuds, but I really like this term.
Yes, but if you feed the pure sodium and chlorine into any process that outputs pure NaCL it’s exactly the same as any other table salt. Same with PET and sugar, if yeast turns the PET into 100% sugar it’s not different from any other sugar.
The problem with this is “pure”. Almost no chemical process results in pure output on its own, there usually needs to be a shitton of cleaning and refining afterwards, see Nile{Red,Blue}.
Still, a new dystopian scifi trope is born. Can’t wait to see it in action: “ingredients: 50% PET bottle sugar, 40% insect protein, <10% human excrement, flavor, coloring”
By the way the article and researchers describe it this is going to target rich people that want to feel they are doing something for the environment, while keeping all their habits (kind of like lab grown meat).
It’s not as bad as it sounds. PET plastic has the same atoms as sugar, so it’s matter of reorganising it.
The researchers engineered an yeast that eats plastic and “ferments” it into sugar
This is actually a huge step in the direction of star trek food replicators.
Always thought that would be graphene with nano robotics.
NileRed on YouTube has done a few interesting things like turning plastic gloves into hot sauce through different chemical processes.
It’s more of a fun science demonstration than anything meant to be even remotely practical to create food from waste, and there are some pretty nasty chemicals involved in some of them that really have no business being anywhere near food
But it does I think drive home the point that everything is basically made out of the same stuff and it’s a matter of figuring out how to break it down and put it back together in the right way to be useful.
The alchemists were right, they just focused on the wrong area of the periodic table. We can’t turn lead into gold, but we can turn plastic into mouthwatering hamburgers!
We’ve so far turned lead into gold 2 times
It’s just so expensive it’s not worth doing except to see if you can
It’s also weirdly easiest to turn things much more radioactive but further away into gold, such as Osmium, but the gold that it produces is radioactive
steamed hams you say?
It’s an old family recipe.
I thought we were having plastic bottles
Pressed hams
Actually we can turn lead into gold by shooting it with particle accelerators. It is not profitable though.
You can turn lead into gold; it was something that was demonstrated in my HS science class. It’s just that the chemical used to make the change is far more valuable than the gold you get out of the process.
We actually can turn lead into gold and fairly easily now, it’s just that it would cost you billions of dollars to make pennies worth of gold.
People really need to stop writing about the torment nexus because all it’s doing is giving the oligarchs more ideas…
The researchers on this one are convinced they can eat the cookies. And while scientists underestimating personal risks isn’t unheard of (hence why they need university approval), it means there isn’t anything obviously dangerous with this process.
One step closer to my favorite utopia, Gay Space Communism* (replicators).
* coined by rightwing chuds, but I really like this term.
Sodium and chlorine are the same atoms in table salt. Not gonna have them by themselves.
Yes, but if you feed the pure sodium and chlorine into any process that outputs pure NaCL it’s exactly the same as any other table salt. Same with PET and sugar, if yeast turns the PET into 100% sugar it’s not different from any other sugar.
The problem with this is “pure”. Almost no chemical process results in pure output on its own, there usually needs to be a shitton of cleaning and refining afterwards, see Nile{Red,Blue}.
Assuming the yeast gets all of it and there isn’t any left, sure.
But hey, I’m sure we can trust the proccesed food industry to have our best interests at heart.
Still, a new dystopian scifi trope is born. Can’t wait to see it in action: “ingredients: 50% PET bottle sugar, 40% insect protein, <10% human excrement, flavor, coloring”
By the way the article and researchers describe it this is going to target rich people that want to feel they are doing something for the environment, while keeping all their habits (kind of like lab grown meat).
Mmm, the terephthalate adds extra crunch