A bottle you were going to throw in the trash could have ended up becoming the aroma of a cookie.
Researchers affiliated with the American Chemical Society took polyethylene terephthalate, the PET used to make nearly all beverage bottles, and broke it down through biological processes until reaching its most basic molecules. From there came vanillin, the compound that gives vanilla its characteristic aroma. With it, they baked a real cookie with real flavor, although no one was chewing plastic: the material had completely changed before reaching the oven.
The technique is still in the experimental phase, but it is already raising bigger questions: it could be used to feed astronauts on missions where every gram of food weighs something and takes up space, or to recycle waste in isolated places where nothing can be wasted. What is a curious cookie today could be part of the solution to food shortages tomorrow.
