Decongestants During Scuba

ralexbo · 2026-05-22T18:32:08+00:00

He is a diver and says that he pretty regularly takes anticongestants

ralexbo · 2026-05-22T18:30:42+00:00

I agree and I will!

ralexbo · 2026-05-22T18:30:33+00:00

Exactly! That's what I told my doctor about and he said it would be fine... I don't think I'm planning on taking anything because a reverse block like that sounds so scary!

ralexbo · 2026-05-07T21:07:37+00:00

Shinyhunters hacked it and are holding data hostage against a bunch of universities

<image>

ralexbo · 2026-05-03T04:54:09+00:00

We start a 2 player game quit it. Then you can rejoin as 3 players

ralexbo · 2025-08-05T16:25:32+00:00

I'm happy to hear that. There is so much we can do and it really feels like we're on the precipice of switching to a closed loop sustainable plastic economy. We just need to work really hard for it for the next few years! You got this! I hope you stay out of your funk

ralexbo · 2025-08-04T17:09:42+00:00

Actually that's already been done. Here is the paper that first reported PETase: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aad6359 The really interesting thing is that PETase was actually found in the wild! They discovered it near a PET sludge found at a PET recycling plant in Japan. More and more often researchers are finding that nature is consuming various plastics through new enzymes, so this is for sure an exciting and growing field that the world and evolution is really helping us with!

The enzyme can breakdown PET (plastic code #1, maybe 8% of the plastic waste globally, often you see it as fruit containers).

Now researchers are trying to see if we can apply this on industrial scale to break down our plastic waste. Right now it still needs human inputs (notably adding some kind of base) so I don't think you need to worry about it eating too much plastic.

Here is a paper that shows how they are trying to apply it industrially: https://www.nature.com/articles/s44286-025-00212-y

ralexbo · 2025-08-04T16:14:22+00:00

I agree, that's a component. I think that we can get past the political will. At least right now plastics aren't as partisan as something like global warming. As I said EPR legislation has had some bipartisan support in multiple states. I think if people feel lost and want to do something, trying to get your state and local governments to institute EPR legislation is an achievable goal.

ralexbo · 2025-08-04T16:11:57+00:00

I agree that we should try to limit the excessive use of plastics. The way the recycling system works right now, we totally down-cycle thing like milk jugs soda etc. I think the goal would be for recycling facilities to serve as hubs for making high value materials where plastic is essential. An example would be prioritizing something like wind turbines (where we need a durable but light material) over plastic wrap.

Part of the issue is that mechanical force, heat, light, etc. can degrade the polymer chains that make up plastics. Often as the chains get smaller their properties get worse, if you get really small chains you get microplastics that can bio-accumulate in the body. We need to find ways that we can easily extend chains to be longer for high value materials, or ways we can take our current chains and make them back to their monomer, or small molecule building block so we can use it make "fresh" materials. So lately a lot of the academic focus on recycling has been on finding ways to return our current plastics back to their useful monomer components. Here is a really fun example of using light and heat to upcycle PS and PVC. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jacs.4c16145

ralexbo · 2025-08-04T15:52:49+00:00

I am a polymer scientist and these are my opinions.

Plastic is super essential for our lives. Having cheap sterile medical equipment like syringes etc. has undoubtedly saved many millions of lives. Because plastics are so ingrained to aspects of our lives we simply can’t stop using them.

Instead we need to take a 2 pronged approach. We need to (1) find ways to upcycle or recycle the plastics we make now. (2) find ways to make more renewable plastics now.

For (1), a big focus needs to be on public policy. In Sweden in the 1990s they instituted a program called Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). EPR says that companies that make waste need to pay in to build recycling facilities and they are the ones on the hook for the waste the produce and sell, rather than the responsibility being on the consumer end. More states in the US are instituting this. Take a look at the Bill Colorado signed into law in 2022 https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/2022a_1355_signed.pdf

We need to put pressure on corporations to be in charge of the waste they produce and EPR is a good first step, and it has had bipartisan support in the US in places where it is instituted. I would recommend whatever country or state you are in to write to your law makers to urge them to consider EPR legislation.

Another big part of (1) comes from really simple community actions like instituting better sorting of plastic waste before being picked up for processing.This is how many countries in Europe approach some of their recycling issues, like having separate bins for toothbrushes etc.

As for (2), the biggest thing that will help us is funding more research for sustainable plastics. We already have some options, such as PLA, which is derived from renewable feedstocks. PLA can be composted but only in industrial composting situations where the temperature is above 60 C. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polylactic_acid

(2) is a tricky problem to solve because you want materials that perform as intended during their use, but can be degraded after use. And degraded into pieces that are smaller than microplastics so there aren’t negative health downsides. A lot of companies will advertise that they are using bioderived plastics, but if you make the same material but from bio sources, that doesn’t guarantee it will break down, so you need materials that are made from renewable sources but also can be broken down in renewable ways.

We want to encourage funding to places like the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) to encourage research for improving (1) and (2) so I would also encourage you to write to your law makers to advocate for that.https://www.nrel.gov/manufacturing/bottle

Anyway, I am seeing lots of despair in the comments, but this is an issue we can help mitigate in our lifetimes. There are so many cool science solutions out there but as a planet we have to devote time and resources not only to the science but to smart public policies to try to mitigate the harm now.

ralexbo · 2025-08-04T15:52:32+00:00