@kallaway
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@kallaway Scientists just figured out how to turn plastic bottles into cookies. And these are real cookies, that smells like vanilla, with protein and vitamins that humans can eat. The technology behind this is called uBites and the crazy part is… NASA is actually paying for it. So astronauts can turn their own trash into food on the way to Mars. It’s pretty wild. Now the way this whole thing works is actually pretty interesting. Plastic and food are both made up of carbon molecules. So first, the scientists shred plastic bottles and blast them with super hot, high-pressure water. This breaks them all the way down into molecules…basically a carbon soup. And then they feed that soup to yeast. This yeast is in the same family as the yeast that makes bread rise. Except that these ones were engineered to eat plastic instead of sugar. Once the yeast eats the carbon molecules, what comes out the other side is protein, fat, and vitamins. One strain of the yeast turns part of the plastic into the same stuff that makes carrots orange. That’s your vitamin A. Another one makes the vanilla. Then they add fiber and sweetener, and 3D print it into cookies. So you’re not actually eating plastic. You’re eating what the yeast made out of it. It’s pretty wild. But the craziest part is why NASA wants this in the first place. See a round trip to Mars is about three years. And you can’t pack three years worth of food in a spaceship. So in theory, this method could turn astronaut trash into food on the way. There’s just one catch… Nobody’s actually tasted one of these plastic cookies yet. The taste test is still waiting on FDA approval. But if this works, there’s a good chance the first cookie eaten on Mars is gonna be made out of plastic. Follow @kallaway to learn more about tech, AI, and robotics. #ai #tech #technology #robotics #space
