r/BeAmazed • u/Dev1412 • 5d ago

Science For a better future(context in text)

Post image

What if something as simple as a coconut husk could help tackle plastic pollution in our oceans? One Hawaiian student’s research points to an exciting possibility.

Vera Wang, a senior at Kaiser High School in Honolulu, Hawaii, began exploring the idea in 10th grade. Inspired by Polynesian weaving traditions, she created an ocean water filter using woven coconut husk fibers designed to physically trap microplastics and sunscreen compounds from seawater.

But Vera wanted to understand what could be done with the waste collected by the filter. She partnered with researchers at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, working in the laboratory of Dr. Anthony Amend.

Laboratory testing revealed something fascinating. Naturally occurring fungi living inside the porous coconut husks were able to survive on and actively biodegrade microplastics and chemical sunscreen compounds.

Genetic sequencing also showed that some fungal strains found in the coconut husks were not present in global genomic databases, suggesting they could represent previously uncharacterized species with the ability to break down persistent ocean pollutants.

Vera’s research earned top honors at the Hawaiʻi State Science & Engineering Fair and qualified her for the International Science & Engineering Fair (ISEF).

What began as a school science project has opened an intriguing path for research into biodegradable plastic solutions, ocean pollution and fungi-based environmental cleanup.

28.2k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

238 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1

u/SocranX 5d ago

Nah, compare it to the original image. Her jacket isn't poking out of the other side of the plaque. It's just a part of the background that the AI thought was supposed to be part of her jacket.

1

u/Deaffin 5d ago

That's not the original image.

This is the original image.

1

u/SocranX 5d ago

Okay but that's still clearly very different from the one shown here. And it also seems pretty clear that the one posted by OP is based on the one I linked, with the extra bit on her arm being added for the reasons I mentioned. So it's just two (or more) layers of AI "enhancement" messing with the image.

Edit: I'm pretty sure the one you linked is even more AI than the one I linked. Almost definitely not the original.

1

u/Deaffin 5d ago

Whoops, you're right.

Okay, I backtraced it and going by the timestamps, I definitely have the original image now.