So, if they can biodegrade plastic, could they be the answer to our planet's massive plastic problem?

如果它們能夠分解塑膠，它們會成為地球塑膠問題的解決之道嗎？

Biology has found a way to some extent to deal with this.

生物學在某種程度上已經找到了應對這個問題的方法。

Because the latest science on this is mind-blowing.

因為關於這個問題的最新科學研究令人訝異。

Not only might we make plastic biodegradable, we might even one day be eating vanilla ice cream from recycled plastic and E. coli.

我們不僅可以讓塑膠生物降解，甚至有一天還可能吃到用回收塑膠和大腸桿菌製作的香草冰淇淋。

Yes. I mean, it's chemically identical.

沒錯，它們的化學性質是相同的。

Yeah. So we'll get back to that in a minute.

沒錯，等等再回來討論這件事。

Let's start with the worms.

讓我們從「蟲」開始講起。

These little creatures are wax worms.

這些小生物是蠟蟲。

Doctor Federica Bertini is a molecular biologist and she first witnessed this phenomenon when she chucked a bunch of wax worms in a plastic bag as a hobby side project because, well, who doesn't?

費德里卡·貝爾蒂尼博士是分子生物學家，她當初會目睹這現象是因為她的業餘愛好是把一堆蠟蟲扔進塑膠袋裡，因為，大家都這樣，對吧？

I bumped into the wax worms by accident because at that time, I was a beekeeper because they live in the beehives.

我無意間接觸到了蠟蟲，因為當時我會養蜂，而蠟蟲就生活在蜂巢中。

They are considered plagues by beekeepers.

蠟蟲被養蜂人視為害蟲。

So I start cleaning my beehive, putting the worms in the plastic bag, and within a short time, I realized that they were making, producing holes.

我在清理我的蜂箱時把蠟蟲放進塑膠袋裡，很快我就發現它們正在塑膠袋上咬出一個一個的洞。

The plastic started to degrade almost as soon as it touched the worm's mouths.

當塑膠接觸到蠟蟲的嘴巴就開始被降解了。

So we thought, "ok, maybe something (is) coming out of the mouth."

我們認為也許是有什麼東西從蠟蟲的嘴裡分泌出來。

So we start collecting this liquid coming out, called the saliva, but it's the liquid coming out of the mouth.

於是我們開始收集從它們嘴裡流出來的脂質物質，稱為唾液，但其實就是從它們嘴裡流出來的液體。

So, in the saliva, we found two enzymes that can reproduce the effect of the saliva, meaning oxidizing polyyne.

我們在唾液中發現了兩種能夠複製唾液效果的酶，也就是氧化聚乙烯的酶。

And it takes a few hours at room temperature in a water solution.

在室溫下，只需要在水中幾個小時就可以發揮作用。

And the amazing thing is that the worms can even digest the plastic, breaking it down into something useful for the worm.

令人驚訝的是，蠟蟲甚至可以消化塑膠，將其分解成對蠟蟲有用的物質。

The worm itself when it eats the plastic and start breaking it down, its guts react almost as if it was eating normal food.

當蠟蟲吃掉塑膠並開始分解時，它的腸道反應就像在吃正常的食物一樣。

So that means that there's something happening with the physiology of the animal that extracts something out of this plastic biodegradation and it just continues as if they were a normal diet.

這表示這種生物的生理機制中發生了一些變化，從這種塑膠降解中提取出某些物質，並繼續正常的進食。

That's Dr Chris Lemoyne, who inspired by Federico's findings also began looking into these worms.

這位是克里斯·勒莫因博士，費德里卡的發現啟發他也開始研究這些蠟蟲。

We found that the plastic allowed them to still retain all their fat and presumably continue with their life cycle.

我們發現，塑膠可以讓它們保留所有的脂肪，並且可能繼續完成它們的生命週期。

Basically, these worms are fattening themselves up by whatever necessary before they turn into moths, by which point they don't eat again, only reproduce.

基本上，這些蠟蟲會透過吃下任何必要的東西來讓自己變得更加肥胖，然後再變成蛾，到那時，它們就不再進食，只會繁殖後代。

I always call them bags of gonads that can fly because that's all they do.

我總是把它們稱為能飛的生殖機器，因為這是它們唯一的功能。

So there's a race underway to figure out just how this mechanism works.

目前正展開一場競賽來找出這種生物降解塑膠的運作機制。

That's the million or trillion-dollar question because once we figure that out, that's a trillion dollars worth of plastic we can degrade.

這是個價值不菲的問題，因為一旦我們找到了答案，我們就可以降解價值上兆美元的塑膠。

Because as cool as the wax worms are, this is really about the specific combination of bacteria and enzymes that can break down plastic, something that's exceptionally rare in nature.

因為儘管蠟蟲非常酷，但真正重要的是能夠分解塑膠的特定細菌和酶的組合，這在自然界中非常罕見。

So why is it so rare?

所以為什麼這麼稀有呢？

Why is plastic so hard to break down?

為什麼塑膠這麼難分解呢？

Well, in nature, most things decompose because bacteria breaks down the chemical bonds that hold a substance together.

在自然界中，大多數東西都會被分解，因為細菌會破壞將物質結合在一起的化學鍵。

These enzymes and bacteria have evolved over millennia to break down whatever it finds in front of it.

這些酶和細菌已經進化了數千年，可以分解它發現的任何東西。

Then plastic comes along.

然後塑膠誕生了。

Here's a scene that has long since ceased causing any surprise: dishes that bounce when they drop to the floor.

這是一個早已不再引起任何驚訝的場景：盤子掉到地上時會反彈。

Nowadays, it gets bad rep but it's a total game changer for humanity, but nature's never experienced it before.

如今，它的名聲不好，但它徹底改變了人類的遊戲規則，但大自然以前從未經歷過。

Plastics are made up of long chains of polymers with very strong bonds.

塑膠由具有非常強鍵的長鏈聚合物組成。

And one of the keys to breaking these bonds is through oxidation.

打破這些鍵的關鍵之一是利用氧化。

That's what the worms appear to be doing with their saliva, introducing oxygen molecules to the plastic.

這似乎就是蠕蟲用唾液做到的，將氧分子帶入塑膠裡。

And this is something that is achieved in the environment through light, for example, high temperature and this is the bottleneck if it takes a while because, you know, the environment has its own timing.

這是通過光在環境中實現的，例如高溫，如果需要一段時間，這就是瓶頸，因為，你知道，環境有自己的時間。

So the worms, what they do is just use multiple of oxygen.

我總是稱它們為會飛的性腺袋，因為它們只做這個。

So in a few hours instead of months or years or whatever.

是以，目前正在進行一場競賽，以弄清這一機制是如何運作的。

So this is the the it's a way to overcome the bottleneck of this.

這是一個百萬或萬億美元的問題，因為一旦我們弄清楚了這一點、

So what's next? Unleash the worms?

這就是我們可以降解的價值一萬億美元的塑膠。

No, that would be a terrible idea.

因為儘管蠟蟲很酷，但這實際上是關於細菌和酶的特定組合的。

Remember this?

可以分解塑膠、

They are considered plagues by beekeepers.

But even sticking just the plastic, the process is still way too slow to realistically solve our plastic crisis any time soon.

So stand down, wax mama.

這在自然界中是非常罕見的。那麼，為什麼它如此罕見？為什麼塑膠如此難以分解？

The real stars of this, though, are the enzymes.

那麼，在自然界中，大多數東西都會分解，因為細菌分解了將物質固定在一起的化學鍵。

If the researchers can identify them and scale them up, there's a chance that in the future, this could be one of the solutions.

這些酶和細菌經過幾千年的進化，可以分解它面前的任何東西。然後塑膠就出現了。

It will take a lot of cash.

這裡有一個早已不再引起任何驚訝的場景：餐具掉到地上時會彈起來。

But now scientists are looking for similar enzymes in all sorts of other places.

如今，它得到了不好的評價，但它完全改變了人類的遊戲規則。

Super worms too. So anything that's a worm in it, it seems to be prone to eat plastic.

但大自然從未經歷過這種情況。

In fact, over 30,000 enzymes have been identified capable of digesting ten different types of plastics.

塑膠是由具有非常強鍵的聚合物長鏈組成的。

One bacteria found in cow stomachs can be used to digest polyester, but the one that's getting everyone really excited is a bacteria called Ideonella sakaiensis and especially its enzyme, PEtase.

在牛胃中發現的某種細菌可以用來消化聚酯，但真正讓人們激動的是一種名為大阪堺菌的細菌，尤其是其PET酶。

Plastic waste in general, but more specifically PET has infiltrated our environment and biology has found a way to some extent to deal with this over time.

一般來說，塑膠垃圾，尤其是 PET 已滲透到我們的環境中，生物學已經找到一定程度的方法來處理這個問題。

There was a discovery outside of Japan where they had found that microbes began to colonize on parts of a water bottle.

他們在日本外海的某個地方發現，微生物開始在水瓶的某些部位生長。

Cells were actually living and maybe even surviving off the carbon within that plastic.

這些細胞其實可能在塑膠中的碳上生存甚至繁殖。

We can take this enzyme out of the cell and we can begin to engineer that enzyme even further to be able to have better activity directly on plastic waste.

我們可以將這種酶從細胞中提取出來，並進一步進行工程改造，使其能夠更好地直接使用在塑膠廢棄物上。

Pet plastic that would take centuries to break down in nature, PETase can break down in a matter of days but it doesn't solve our plastic problem, not yet anyway.

在自然界中，需要幾個世紀才能分解的 PET 塑膠，PET酶可以在幾天內分解，但這並不能解決我們塑膠料問題，至少目前還不行。

To have any real impact at scale, we need to turbocharge how quickly it works.

要大規模的造成影響，我們需要加速 PET酶分解的速度。

And that's exactly what Hal's team has done, and they name this really fast version of PETase, FAST-PETase.

這正是 Hal 的團隊正在做的，他們稱這種速度非常快的 PET酶為「快速PET酶」。

They did this using AI, essentially by using a vast database of all known enzymes in the natural world, and then running simulations about which combinations and mutations would speed up the process,

他們使用 AI 能進行這項工作，基本上是利用自然界中已知的所有酶的龐大數據庫，然後進行模擬，找出哪些組合和突變可以加速這個過程，

kind of like a form of computerized accelerated evolution.

有點像電腦加速進化的形式。

Machine learning approach really is its rapid evolution to some extent on there, but at the same time, it's guided by observation.

機器學習方法確實是一種快速進化的形式。這將需要大量的現金。

We saw that this enzyme was not very stable overall and used machine learning type of approach to figure out which point mutations would make this enzyme more stable,

and found a couple of mutations that really both increased the stability significantly, but then also gave rise to a significant increase in the activity of this enzyme on plastic.

This cutting-edge technology opens up a whole new frontier of scientific possibility and the team aren't done yet thinking about trying to clean up plastic that's actually in the environment.

但是現在科學家們正在各種其他地方尋找類似的酶。

Those applications don't have the benefit of being able to control the temperature in P H very well.

超級蠕蟲，也是如此。所以任何有蟲子的東西，似乎都容易吃塑膠。

So having an enzyme that ultimately is flexible enough to work in a variety of different conditions is extremely valuable.

事實上，超過30,000種酶已被確認，能夠消化10種不同類型的塑膠。

Once pet plastic is broken down into its component parts, Teric acid and ethylene glycol, it can then be recycled into new plastic, but it doesn't necessarily have to be plastic.

在牛胃中發現的一種細菌可以用來消化聚酯。

In theory, it could be used to make something better like this.

但是讓大家真正興奮的是一種叫做Ideonella sakaiensis的細菌、

Well, sort of, because a team of scientists in Edinburgh have found a way to turn plastic into Vanillin.

特別是其酶PET酶。

That's the central ingredient in vanilla, and they did it using E. coli.

一般的塑膠廢料，更具體的是PET、已經滲透到我們的環境中

Sounds delicious.

而生物學在某種程度上已經找到了一種方法，隨著時間的推移處理這個問題。

For me, and for anyone who's thinking about a nice vanilla ice cream, what are we not understanding about that?

在日本以外的地方有一個發現，他們發現微生物開始在水瓶的一部分上定居。

We can ask this question a lot.

細胞實際上是活的，甚至可能是靠塑膠中的碳生存的。

Yes, I mean it's chemically identical.

我們可以把這種酶從細胞中取出來，我們可以開始對這種酶進行更進一步的設計

Ok, forgive me if the next part ruins vanilla for you.

以便能夠直接針對塑膠垃圾開展更好的活動。在自然界需要幾個世紀才能分解的PET塑膠，PET酶可以在幾天內分解、

So Vanillin is a compound that's derived from oil that we pump out of the ground.

但這並不能解決我們的塑膠問題。

It's the same feedstock that we use to make petrol that we use in our cars.

無論如何，現在還沒有。

So we in essence, took one of those enzymes that have been reported to do the initial depolymerization and then took the mixture of Teric acids and ethylene glycol that you get from that and simply just fed it to our E. coli.

為了在規模上產生任何真正的影響，我們需要加速其工作的速度。

But the way that I think about it is, you know, yes, this compound is coming from plastic waste and yes, it's coming from a bacteria.

而這正是哈爾的團隊所做的。他們給這個真正的快速版本的PETase命名...

But I think we as a society are okay with eating food that has oil in it, the vanilla derived from oil.

FAST-PET酶。

So why wouldn't we be okay with having, having a bacterium produce, produce that for us?

他們使用人工智能做到了這一點，基本上是通過使用自然界中所有已知酶的龐大數據庫來實現的。

Now, these guys aren't really trying to sell you vanilla ice cream; they're more interested in upcycling recycled plastic.

然後對哪些組合和變異會加速這一過程進行模擬、有點像一種計算機化的、加速的進化形式。

There's recycling plastics into more plastics and then there's upcycling plastics into other compounds.

機器學習的方法真的是，它在某種程度上在那裡快速進化，但同時，它是由觀察指導的。

The issues at the moment currently, with that approach is that when you subsequently recycle plastic into other plastics, the value of that plastic and the quality of that plastic actually diminishes.

我們看到這種酶總體上不是很穩定，於是使用了一種機器學習類型的方法

So you enter into this down-cycling approach that does solve the problem in the short term, but it ultimately generates the same waste.

以找出哪些點突變會使這種酶更穩定，並發現了幾個突變

What we think is quite interesting about down-cycling plastic is that you reenter that carbon back into the, you know, the chemicals economy as something that's higher value.

這確實都大大增加了穩定性、

Vanillin is not the only product that we can make from PET plastic.

但隨後也引起了這種酶在塑膠上的活性的明顯增加。

The molecules that you get when you depolymerize pets um are actually intermediates en route to a huge number of industrial products that we rely on nowadays.

這項尖端技術為科學的可能性開闢了一個全新的領域，而且該團隊還沒有完成。思考如何嘗試清理實際存在於環境中的塑膠、

One of the most interesting ones that we're focusing on right now is pharmaceutical intermediate.

這些應用沒有能夠很好地控制溫度和PH值的好處。

You can take PET plastic waste and turn it into pharmaceutical compounds.

是以，擁有一種最終能在各種不同條件下靈活工作的酶是非常有價值的。

So taking something that's actually damaging the environment and turn it into a source of human medicine.

一旦PET塑膠被分解成其組成部分，即對苯二甲酸和乙二醇、

So medication, other flavoring compounds, materials for your clothing cosmetics. It's quite staggering.

然後它可以被回收成新的塑膠、但它不一定非得是塑膠的。

I think this is only really the beginning of what could be possible in, in the area of plastic up cycling. I think that very much is the case.

從理論上講，它可以用來製造更好的東西、像這樣。

So worms themselves aren't going to eat all our troubles away.

嗯，算是吧，因為愛丁堡的一個科學家團隊已經找到了將塑膠變成香蘭素的方法。

But the science going on around this is genuinely exciting and it's all thanks to nature for providing the inspiration.

這就是香草的核心成分。