Phys.org

Here's a thing I often think about.

Somewhen long, long time ago trees existed, but there were no microorganisms or fungi which could break apart wood, so for some 60 millions of years land was littered with unrotten trees.

Until these microorganisms and fungi came into existence and started to feast. That event made wood a perishable material, and people now have to treat wood in different ways in order to show down its decay.

Currently, humanity relies on plastics. And one large advantage of plastics is that they are, well, effectively non perishable. At the same time, humanity actively creates microorganisms that would be able to do what nature learned to do to wood.

If Michael Crichton taught us anything, it's the impossibility of containing such organisms in the lab. So I think it's fairly reasonable to say that humanity will face with natural plastic rot within the next hundred years.

Am I mad?

Can you imagine challenges that will bring? Think checking every plastic bit of an airplane? A car? A ship?