Humans are great at making chemicals that never leave.
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
PFAS are “forever pollutants” and they’re EVERYWHERE. Removing them is slow, expensive, and often ineffective. But, what if nature has a solution?
At Texas A&M University, Susie Dai and team looked at fungi.
Fungi can break down PFAS, but they need carbon to survive.
So the researchers paired the fungi with a nanostructure made from corn husks! That’s where the fungi both eats and lives!
And? This porous nanostructure trapped nearly all PFAS from contaminated rainwater. Then fungi stepped in and transformed the PFAS into less toxic compounds!
Cleanup crew? More like hungry hungry fungi!
Reference: Li, J., Li, X., Da, Y. et al. Sustainable environmental remediation via biomimetic multifunctional lignocellulosic nano-framework. Nat Commun 13, 4368 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-31881-5