What is Digg?Sponsored by HowLifeWorks
How Much Are You Over-Paying For Your Auto Insurance view!
howlifeworks.com - Car insurance rates have dropped leaving many people paying far more than they need to...
311 Comments
- t3hbagel, on 05/27/2008, -15/+283This was JUST on the front page.
- crazyjake, on 05/27/2008, -15/+208this story was pretty good the first time...
http://digg.com/general_sciences/Teen_s_Science_Pr ... - Samsong, on 05/27/2008, -32/+189Teen figures out how to decompose plastic bags in 3 months, fails to get a date for prom.
- fitqueenb, on 05/27/2008, -14/+159If he has entrepreneurial skills, he might be able to lock in a nice retirement fund for himself! The plastic bags are a problem, and we the people need a solution now.
- polishdude06, on 05/27/2008, -38/+183and the bacteria go OM NOM NOM NOM
- mesmeriffic, on 05/27/2008, -8/+112He figured it out again?! Holy *****. Einstein only found out the mass-energy equivalence once, while this kid is making breakthroughs in decomposing plastics multiple times a week.
- Velnich, on 05/27/2008, -13/+111Burried as duplicate from 3 days ago.
http://digg.com/general_sciences/Teen_s_Science_Pr ... - quomen, on 05/27/2008, -8/+64Isn't Zaibatsu a top submitter? Didn't this story get 4,000+ Diggs a few days ago?
This is why I hate these guys. - inactive, on 05/27/2008, -3/+53Ebola is a virus.
- SSUK, on 05/27/2008, -5/+38You sir, do not understand the premise of a joke. Good day.
- vuke69, on 05/27/2008, -9/+39Solution: Don't use plastic bags.
But beyond that, plastic bags breaking down is not the problem. Leave a plastic bag outside for a year, and you will notice that it will have lost almost all of it's structural integrity in that short (well, shorter than 1000's of years anyhow) period. leave it for a few more years and it will basically turn to dust all by itself. It's amazing what just a little sunlight can do.
Trying to get that to happen in an anaerobic environment is the tough part, which by the way, this kid has not managed to do.
I applaud his efforts, but he has not managed to solve a difficult problem, he has managed to misunderstand a difficult problem, and solve a significantly easier subset of that problem. - Osmose1000, on 05/27/2008, -3/+28This is the second time today that I have seen an article hit the front page that was on the front page less than a week ago.
At this rate I'm thinking of just submitting every article that hits the second page of Top in 7 Days and becoming a front page superstar. - euro22, on 12/17/2008, -4/+22And you ***** KNOW he saw the dupe when he was submitting this. What a ***** *****.
- RandomGorilla, on 05/27/2008, -6/+24That beaker he's holding? Part of his meth lab.
- XXXXXXXXXXXXXX, on 05/27/2008, -1/+18He also tried to submit the Stewie picture again:
http://digg.com/comics_animation/This_Is_What_Stew ... - Dylson, on 05/27/2008, -3/+20Dumbass.
- BlankLeeloo, on 05/27/2008, -2/+18Beating dead horses is a favorite pastime of the internet.
- iticu, on 05/27/2008, -1/+15Yeah, but when it crumbles into dust it's still not gone; it's just smaller, and therefore easier to get into the foodchain at lower levels.
- TheRealToma, on 05/27/2008, -17/+30That pic looks kind of like a bad GIF or a good ol' BMP.
- mickstephenson, on 05/27/2008, -1/+14BMP's are very high quality images as they use no compression, which is why they are so big.
- vi3telit3, on 05/27/2008, -1/+14The kid knows this is an awesome discovery. The adult chemical engineer in me knows that a 3-month reactor residence time is not economically feasible. I hate growing up :(
- Stormwern, on 05/27/2008, -1/+14Plastic bags have no effect on fertility, and the sewage system is too cold for the microbes to work, the decomposition would have to be done in a recycling center.
- StealthMonkey, on 05/27/2008, -5/+18i have been hearing that aliens will come and murder us all for at least one hundred years if an absurd rumor gets spread by chance..
- spyd3rweb, on 05/27/2008, -6/+17How about recycling them?
- nakile, on 05/27/2008, -2/+13It's a GIF that was turned into a JPEG. They might as well have tried spraying air freshener on dog *****...
- PaulOwen, on 05/27/2008, -2/+13The first thing he should do is keep the process secret and apply for a patent.
D'oh. - tlm2021, on 05/27/2008, -2/+13I agree with the "don't use plastic bags" solution. And not only because of how long it takes them to decompose. We're constantly worried about the oil crises, the price of gas, and the future of alternative energies. But no one wants to talk about possibly reducing our dependence on plastics. Their so cheap and convenient and they're used for just about everything thing. But guess what it takes to make plastic: oil.
- Stormwern, on 05/27/2008, -3/+12Smart for a teen, he could seriously get a nobel price for this. The "tiny amount of carbon dioxide" isn't exactly true though. Plastic consists to 90% of coal, and all of that will turn into co2, though probably environmentally sound in lack of better solutions anyway.
- B3000, on 05/27/2008, -1/+10"Pun-tang"? Is that some kind of orange drink made from comedic homophones and homonyms?
- bstew22, on 05/27/2008, -2/+10aaahhhhh the internet! i don't know what i'm commenting about i'm just typing words cause it's fun!
- garvallagh, on 05/27/2008, -0/+7Ireland - Plastic bag free since 2002!
- craiginct, on 05/27/2008, -10/+17Still sounds like something far more productive than spending hundreds of millions to see if there is ice on Mars.
- HeavyWave, on 05/27/2008, -1/+8doesn't mean *****. ALL top submitters just use the army of their friends, they (friends) don't even look at the story and digg everything. this is the major problem of digg algorithm and this is the reason why people don't like MrBabyMan. and not just because he's an ***** or anything.
- DaviDTC, on 05/27/2008, -3/+10His next science project needs to be how to make the spammers check the duplicate story generator.
- dpogni, on 05/27/2008, -5/+12Damn, good for him. Back when I was 16, my headline would have read, "Teen hooks up with sorta hot girl", or "Teen gets gets really drunk and pukes on moms garden"
- ginnipig, on 05/27/2008, -2/+9your digg count is going OM NOM NOM NOM
- Pritchard, on 05/27/2008, -2/+9Attention - I am putting zaibatsu on ignore. This is probably the thousandth time I've seen this ***** submit a dupe. Yes, stupid to announce it, but after a few minutes of ranting I finally realized that a solution was here all along...
- flashback99, on 05/27/2008, -0/+7you dont need a brain to make a bong. Just weed and willpower.
- ErikHarrison, on 05/27/2008, -2/+9The kid may have not managed to get them to break down in an anaerobic environment, but who is to say it wouldn't work? You the random digger?
- Rubab, on 05/27/2008, -17/+23that is amazing.. i am sure this will help in eradicating those problems related to plastic bag disposing.. I heard in pakistan, there are tons and tons of trash made up of plastic bag and block the sewerage system underground.. there was another important thing, i have been hearing is that the fertility of a piece of land is destroyed for at least one hundred years if a plastic bag gets buried by chance..
- Velnich, on 05/27/2008, -2/+8Having missed it go popular or front page is one thing, having missed it go Top in 24 hr or 7days is another.
- woofers07, on 05/27/2008, -0/+6it's got some awesome dithering goin on there
- Fordi, on 05/27/2008, -1/+7I do wonder, though. He's basically used controlled selection to breed a bacterium which will metabolize PETE into CO2 and H2O, it may be possible to control for PETE metabolization into other compounds. Given that he started with yeasts, it may even be possible to control for metabolization into a sugar, sugar alcohol, or polymer ester.
It would be interesting if we could ferment plastics back into petrochemicals or into other fuels. - andy314159pi, on 05/27/2008, -2/+7It is better to leave that carbon fixed.
- jimbo92107, on 05/27/2008, -2/+7Daniel Burd. Remember that name. Direct problem solving, simple focus, sound scientific method.
He could be the next Dean Kamen.
Don't let 'em put you into a cube, kid! - MetaMars, on 05/27/2008, -1/+6Yeah, but now it's new and improved, by Zaibatsu!
- kryptonite514, on 05/27/2008, -0/+5This is possibly an ill though solution to the problem. A question that needs to be asked is what exactly this bacteria is doing with the plastic.
In nature, plastic is subject photodegradation, and not biodegradradation. UV light from the sun breaks the plastic structures apart but does not effect the compound molecule. This presents problems because the plastic is essentially just breaking down into smaller pieces and is not actually deteriorating into it's constituents. As the plastic breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces it permeates more and more of the environment. Some plastics contain toxic chemicals and this diffusion of plastic into the ground, and inevitably, drinking water is not a good thing. Some research also explains that some plastics have tendencies to bond with toxins and absorb them.
So the question is, what does this kids bacteria do to the plastic? If it just breaks the plastic in to smaller and smaller peices that is not a solution it's a problem. - gldfshnpcklejar, on 05/27/2008, -4/+9internet is serious business. digg fight club. go
- theHM, on 05/27/2008, -0/+5You're thinking of "poontang", which is a word generally used by those who aren't getting any.
- Testies, on 05/27/2008, -0/+5Ah those Canadians. What CAN'T they do?
-
Show 51 - 100 of 318 discussions
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is