The longer Williams looked under the microscope, the more intense his shock became.
"Oh my god, this is actually a bacteria that can eat microplastic particles, and it can eat not just one kind, but several kinds."
"This bacterium must have different decomposing enzymes in its body to completely degrade different plastic particles. You know, there are all kinds of plastic waste gathered in sewage."
"It's so powerful that it can actually eat plastic. In a world where plastic pollution is becoming increasingly serious, its commercial value is simply immeasurable."
"Unfortunately, it just took a long time. It took almost a week to degrade these microplastics, and it was not very complete, and some remained."
"If I can biomodify it to increase the speed of degrading plastics by hundreds or thousands of times, and shorten the time to less than a day, or even a few hours, it will completely solve the problem of human plastic pollution."
The more Williams thought about it, the more excited he became, and a blush appeared on his face.
"We must start improving it immediately. First, extract several enzymes in the bacteria that break down plastic and study it carefully."
"I didn't expect that Kunming's sewage treatment plant would be a treasure trove of microorganisms, and such a magical little cutie could be found."
"Yes, there are many industrial parks in Kunming, as well as some pharmaceutical and chemical plants. It is not surprising that plastic accumulates in the sewage."
"There are too many microplastic particles in the sewage, and there are various chemicals, and the bacteria have mutated, leading to the birth of this new type of bacteria. The ecological evolution of nature is really amazing."
Williams looked at the petri dish with enchanted eyes, as if he was looking at the rarest treasure in the world.
At this moment, he had forgotten about the phage.
This is the only bacteria that can eat plastic.
After a while, he came back to his senses and reluctantly looked back.
Then he carefully put away the petri dishes randomly placed on the table, and began to gather people and assign experimental tasks.
Plastic pollution is one of the biggest environmental crises facing humanity, and it continues to get worse.
This is the painful price that mankind has to pay for industrialization.
However, everything has a cause and effect. Humans throw plastic waste into the environment, and the environment responds with microplastics.
Now, this retribution is at hand.
Microplastics have spread all over the world and are everywhere.
They are as far away as the horizon, as far away as the rarely visited Antarctic ice sheet, as deep as the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the earth, and as high as Everest, the top of the world.
And right before our eyes, microplastics in the environment have already penetrated into people's food, air and water.
Every year, the world produces a staggering 300 million tons of plastic, but when they end their mission, how to deal with these stable polymers becomes a problem.
Around the world, billions of tons of plastic waste are buried in landfills, contaminating local soil and water sources, and can also appear as microplastics in the human blood, feces and even placenta.
Only 10% can be recycled, and the rest takes hundreds of years to decompose, causing immeasurable damage to the environment.
Commonly used plastics can be divided into five categories: polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polystyrene (PS), polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP) and polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA). kind.
PET is usually used in mineral water bottles, beverage bottles and various household appliances. PS is widely used in food packaging materials. PE is used in packaging films and plastic bags. PP is widely used in take-out lunch boxes. As for PMMA, it is mostly used in electronic equipment and lighting equipment. Appearance.
Microplastics not only permeate the entire environment, but also permeate people's bodies.
People who regularly drink bottled water, eat take-out food, and people whose jobs expose them to dust will have elevated levels of microplastics in their bodies.
Microplastics smaller than 10 μm can pass through cell membranes, enter the circulatory system, reach other tissues, and penetrate various organs in the body.
Microplastics can cause various inflammations and cell damage after entering the human body, and the harm to the human body will be long-term and lasting.
How to alleviate the increasingly severe plastic crisis has become an extremely urgent challenge at the moment.
There are already several bacteria in nature that can degrade PET, but there are obvious flaws. They can only work within a specific pH and temperature range, and the reaction speed is limited, often taking several weeks. The plastic needs to be treated before degradation. Perform preprocessing.
An open question is how to make enzymes that operate efficiently at low temperatures, allowing for low-cost, large-scale industrial applications.
As for other types of plastics, no bacteria that can eat them have been found.
That's why Williams was so excited to discover this bacterium that can eat a variety of microplastics.
He understood what would happen if such bacteria could be grown and break down the plastic into harmless by-products.
This may be the best solution to the world's most pressing environmental crisis.
In the next few days, he took the newly established microbiology laboratory and devoted himself wholeheartedly to the work of extracting the plasticizing enzyme.
Soon, with the collective efforts of Sanqing researchers, three enzymes in the bacteria were quickly identified.
The first enzyme pre-treats microplastic particles, making the chemical bonds between the polymer molecules loose and easier to fall off.
A second enzyme reacts with water to break down these pre-treated plastic polymers into an intermediate medium, which is then further broken down into smaller monomers by a third enzyme.
These degraded monomers are actually a plastic raw material that can be used to make more plastics.
In this way, discarded plastics can be easily recycled.
The loss can be controlled within a lower range.
Overall, it has a bright future and strong commercial potential.
All three enzymes in the bacteria have been extracted, but there are still many difficulties waiting for them.
Williams looked at the petri dish, his brows still furrowed.
There were staff members in white coats surrounding him, all with heavy dark circles under their eyes, looking at him with a hint of excitement amid exhaustion.
Williams pondered for a moment and said: "The efficiency of the three enzymes is still too low, and the decomposition is not complete enough."
"During the degradation process of plastics, some chemical additives contained in them are also released, causing pollution to the environment."
"The types of plastics that can be degraded are also limited. We tried some relatively hard plastics, such as HIDPE used to make shampoo bottles or pipes, but the biodegradation effect was very unsatisfactory."
"Overall, a lot of effort is still needed."
He let out a long sigh, and the fighting spirit in his eyes was extremely strong.
Bang bang bang!
Williams clapped his hands and said solemnly: "Cheer up, the next work will be more difficult."
"The three questions I just raised need to be solved in order to obtain an enzyme with a stronger effect."
"Let's go step by step. First, try to improve these three enzymes to make them more powerful and efficient."
"Secondly, combining these three different enzymes together creates a super enzyme that further improves the efficiency of eating plastic."
"Then, try to improve the super enzyme degradation process so that it releases fewer chemical additives and controls its secondary pollution to the environment to a low level."
"Ultimately, we need to find ways to reduce the cost of this enzyme while developing the technology to use it industrially on a large scale."
"As for the limited types of plastics that can be degraded, this is not a particularly important issue, as long as the common polymers can be degraded."
"Okay, I'll assign specific tasks. You guys should pay attention..."
After assigning the task, Williams breathed a sigh of relief and walked upstairs.
Soon he arrived at the door of the AI Pharmaceutical Laboratory and knocked gently.
A lazy voice came from inside.
"Come in!"
When he opened the door and walked in, he saw Wen Renlong sitting on a chair with his limbs stretched out, staring intently at the screen, bursting into laughter from time to time.
Wen Renlong turned to look at the door. When he saw it was Williams, the smile on his face disappeared instantly. He sat up straight and asked in a businesslike tone.
"It's you, what do you want from me?"
Williams felt the alienation in the other person's mouth, which seemed not as friendly as other people said.
But he came here because of something and didn't care about it.
"Director Wen Ren, it's like this. I recently discovered a bacterium that can eat plastic and extracted three enzymes that can degrade plastic. However, I encountered a problem and need your help." Williams' face was filled with confusion. Smiling and acting very enthusiastic.
Wen Renlong's eyes suddenly lit up, but he wrote casually: "Oh, bacteria that eat plastic. I have also read papers on this. It is indeed very interesting, but if you are just degrading PET, why do you need three enzymes?" ah."
Williams smiled: "Not only PET, but also plastics such as PE, PS, and PP can be degraded."
"What?" Wen Renlong was confused for a moment: "Where did you find such a powerful bacteria?"
"Kunshi Sewage Treatment Plant. In fact, it was an accident. I originally went there for the phages."
"Damn it, you kid is so lucky." Wen Renlong said with envy on his face.
"No, I've always heard that Brother Long is very capable, especially when it comes to machine learning models. No one can match him, so I'm here to trouble you."
Williams' attitude was very upright, and Wen Renlong immediately liked him a lot.
Of course, it was mainly for the sake of plastic-eating bacteria. This thing sounded very promising. He was heartbroken about the dying dividends of Duan Ai Ling, but a pie fell from the sky and threw such a profitable project to the before.
"Let's go to your laboratory." Wen Renlong took the lead and walked ahead.
Look at the 3D modeling of three enzymes on AICell, and detailed data.
Wen Renlong's eyes widened in surprise: "Okay, good job."
He then confidently patted Williams on the shoulder.
"Don't worry, the next step is up to you, Brother Long."
"I will build a machine learning (AI) model based on their data. This model can predict which mutations can improve the efficiency of the enzyme and other functions you want."
"In this way, we can select the most suitable mutations under the guidance of the model and then modify them in the laboratory."
"In this way, the transformation speed can be greatly accelerated. I believe that a new super enzyme that meets the needs can be quickly transformed."
Williams was overjoyed: "Great, machine learning is indeed my shortcoming, and it all depends on you. Brother Long, don't worry, now you are also a member of the super enzyme project team. If I get results, you will definitely be indispensable." "
****
at the same time.
Novi, Nobel Committee.
The Peace Prize is different from other awards in that it is awarded by Novi, not Ruidian.
Five experts and scholars were sitting together, all with straight faces and serious expressions.
On the table between them was a computer, with the face of a middle-aged Western man displayed on the screen.
This man has a hooked nose and a thick beard. He is Thor, the head of a certain department in Eagle Country.
"Dear Mr. Saul, I think you may have made a mistake."
A gray-haired expert said tactfully: "It's already November. The list of all Nobel Prize winners was announced last month, and the December winners will come to attend the award ceremony."
"So you may not be able to agree to your request to add another winner to the Peace Prize."
"You should know that the Nobel Prize is very authoritative, and it is impossible to go back on one's word and make such a low-level mistake."
Sol on the screen sneered: "Haha, come on. If it were other awards, such as physics awards, chemistry awards, or medicine awards, I would believe your statement. After all, the scope involved is too wide, and you can't cover the sky with one hand. of."
"But you have the nerve to say that it can't be changed for an award like the Peace Prize that everyone despises?"
At this point, his face darkened, his eyes became sharp, and with his big beard and aquiline nose, he looked particularly sinister and terrifying.
"I ask you for the last time, can the peace prize be given to my people?"
"This..." The gray-haired expert sighed helplessly and wisely closed his mouth.
At this time, another middle-aged lady with a good face and wearing a black and white plaid tweed jacket suddenly spoke.
"Can I ask, who is the candidate you are proposing? If you don't have enough achievements, I'm afraid it will be difficult to convince others."
"Haha, don't worry, this person's achievements are absolutely convincing, and he may even be the most convincing candidate this year."
Saul sneered and said: "He developed HIV gene drugs, cured AIDS, saved tens of millions of patients from suffering, eliminated terminal diseases that humans have been fighting for nearly half a century, and brought peace and health to the world. , it would be a shame for such a person to not win the Peace Prize.”
"Ah? You are talking about Dr. Tang from the Sanqing Group, right? No, absolutely not. The scientific researchers of Sanqing have been blocked by us. No matter how high their achievements are, they cannot change this decision."
Someone immediately spoke up and expressed strong opposition.
Others echoed.
Sol looked at the group of people across the network coldly, unable to hide the contempt in his eyes.
"A bunch of idiots. Although my candidate works in Sanqing, he is a native of Eagle Country, Dr. Williams Goodman. After he wins the award, he will return to his motherland and continue his scientific research career."
"If they are from the Eagle Country, that's not impossible." Several experts breathed a sigh of relief and stopped insisting.
The experts sitting around looked at each other, secretly exchanged glances, and quickly made a decision.
"Then do as you wish."
"Fortunately, we are only awarding the Peace Prize to two laureates this year, so there is still one spot available."
"The Nobel Prize Committee will issue a statement claiming that Dr. Williams Goodman has made a huge contribution to mankind that cannot be ignored due to his cure of AIDS."
"And we received nominations from all over the world, all of them complained about him and asked him to be added to the list of winners, so in order to meet the wishes of the people, we made an exception and awarded the Peace Prize to him."
"In this way, not only will it meet your requirements, but it will also convince the public."
"Although it may bring harm to the committee's reputation, the Peace Prize is not that authoritative in the first place, and such a loss is within the acceptable range."
An expert wearing reading glasses and a wrinkled face spoke slowly.
All the experts present nodded in agreement.
"Very good, I'm very satisfied. I hope the whole world can hear the good news tomorrow."
Thor raised the corners of his mouth, waved his hand in a victorious manner, and quickly disappeared from the screen.
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