06-08-2015, 07:13 AM
Bacteria have been developed that can eat hydrocarbons IIRC. I believe the idea was that they could be sprayed on oil spills. To date, they are apparently too delicate to really work in a natural environment, I believe.
However, if such a thing was developed to the point of being able to readily survive and thrive in the wild it might, if it got out of control, pose a rather difficult challenge re just hitting it with chemicals to kill it. Because the chemicals used might also kill off lots of other, beneficial, life-forms in the process. We already see this to some extent with pesticides killing off beneficial insects as a side-effect. And if some of the genegineered bacteria happened to have a bit of an immunity, ala what happens with drug resistant diseases or pesticide resistant insects, we might end up with a rather more serious problem.
Actually, I believe Niven also postulated a bacterium that could eat plastic - In Ringworld Engineers (where the superconductor eating plague is discussed) I seem to remember this being mentioned and it being said that it apparently got into the wild and started eating plastic stuff off the shelves in stores. They had to switch to a different type of plastic or something.
Todd
However, if such a thing was developed to the point of being able to readily survive and thrive in the wild it might, if it got out of control, pose a rather difficult challenge re just hitting it with chemicals to kill it. Because the chemicals used might also kill off lots of other, beneficial, life-forms in the process. We already see this to some extent with pesticides killing off beneficial insects as a side-effect. And if some of the genegineered bacteria happened to have a bit of an immunity, ala what happens with drug resistant diseases or pesticide resistant insects, we might end up with a rather more serious problem.
Actually, I believe Niven also postulated a bacterium that could eat plastic - In Ringworld Engineers (where the superconductor eating plague is discussed) I seem to remember this being mentioned and it being said that it apparently got into the wild and started eating plastic stuff off the shelves in stores. They had to switch to a different type of plastic or something.
Todd