Junk plastic turns into high-value commodity with chemistry trick
Nature Podcast

Junk plastic turns into high-value commodity with chemistry trick

B2Upper-intermediateAugust 5, 202613 min

Researchers untangle the chemistry behind turning PVC into high-grade motor lubricant — plus, how engineered yeast can help make a cancer drug. 00:45 The chemistry behind converting PVC into lubricant Research article: Munyaneza et al. 09:15 Research Highlights Nature: ​​​​​​​Engineered yeast that make cancer drugs could spare a rare flower Nature: ​​​​​​​Sickle-cell disease linked to prematurely aged stem cells in mice​​​​​​​ Subscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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This week, how to turn a plastic into a lubricant.

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I'm Maren Hunsberger.

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0:00

Welcome back to the Nature Podcast. This week, how to turn a plastic into a lubricant. And how a yeast can help make a cancer drug. I'm Maren Hunsberger.

0:34

And I'm Nick Petrich-Hound. This week in Nature, researchers have shown that a common plastic can be turned into a lubricant, rather than heading to landfill. The plastic in question is polyvinyl chloride, better known as PVC.

1:01

The poly may give you a clue to its structure, if you remember your high school chemistry. It's made up of hydrocarbons, carbon and hydrogen atoms with a chlorine atom on the side, repeated many, many times in a long chain. This relatively simple structure belies how versatile it is, coming in harder and more flexible forms.

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