Using Plant-based Plastic to Help Fight Climate Change

Using Plant-based Plastic to Help Fight Climate Change

Top of Mind with Julie Rose - Radio Archive, Episode 966 , Segment 5

Episode: China, Sumo Wrestling, Sriracha, Blow flies

  • Dec 17, 2018 10:00 pm
  • 19:39 mins

Guest: Joseph Rollin, Postdoctoral Researcher, US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory Most of the plastic that surrounds us, fills our landfills and floats in giant trash islands on the ocean is made from oil. And most of that plastic doesn’t recycle all that well. Plastics made from plants may be the solution in the long-run. They biodegrade faster and can also be recycled more completely than traditional plastic. There’s also the intriguing possibility that plant-based plastics could be used to permanently trap harmful greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.

Other Segments

What's Better than an Antibiotic? A Virus That Kills Bacteria

22 MINS

Guest: Julianne Grose, Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Biology, BYU; Richard Robison, Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Biology, BYU; Mike Alder, Director, BYU, Technology Transfer Office BYU Unless we find a way to deal with antibiotic resistance, health experts predict that thirty years from now bacterial infections will be killing as many people as diabetes and cancer do. Inventing new antibiotics to tackle so-called superbugs that are resistant to the current arsenal is a top international health priority. Here at BYU, the focus is on finding viruses that kill deadly bacteria. Instead of pumping a patient full of antibiotics, doctors might instead pump that patient full of viruses – but nice ones.

Guest: Julianne Grose, Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Biology, BYU; Richard Robison, Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Biology, BYU; Mike Alder, Director, BYU, Technology Transfer Office BYU Unless we find a way to deal with antibiotic resistance, health experts predict that thirty years from now bacterial infections will be killing as many people as diabetes and cancer do. Inventing new antibiotics to tackle so-called superbugs that are resistant to the current arsenal is a top international health priority. Here at BYU, the focus is on finding viruses that kill deadly bacteria. Instead of pumping a patient full of antibiotics, doctors might instead pump that patient full of viruses – but nice ones.