In New Zealand, Humble Bee is collecting material produced by Banksia bees in southwest Queensland in an attempt to reverse engineer a biodegradable plastic that is also water-repellent and flame-resistant. The bees line their nests with a cellophane-like plastic, so the company is working with researchers to see if they can produce the plastic en masse like insulin was produced in the 1970s by coding the gene that produces it and inserting it into e. coli—if they can find the gene, that is.
Category: Fuels