Abstracts: Plastic-Eating Bacteria, Rogue Biologists, and More

A roundup of science news from around the Web — and around the world.

• Researchers have discovered a bacterium that can allegedly eat PET, one of the most common forms of plastic — but don’t stop recycling just yet. (Fortune)

• Charlotte, North Carolina, plans to test a new algorithm straight out of a sci-fi movie: It allegedly predicts when police officers will “go bad,” forecasting everything from traffic stops to shootings by tapping into officers’ professional histories. (FiveThirtyEight)

Trash

Scientists have discovered a bacterium that, they suggest, can eat PET — a common breed of plastic. Visual: Flickr

• Extraordinary levels of rainfall are flooding the American south, bringing destruction to states like Louisiana. (New York Times)

• A new study says previous sea-level-rise estimates haven’t adequately accounted for population changes, and that half the 13 million people at risk of inundation in the United States are in Florida. (Miami Herald)

• February saw the planet’s greatest global temperature spike on record — a rise of 1.35 degrees Celsius and a full 0.21 degrees Celsius higher than the previous record set only the month before. (Washington Post)

• Last week, the USDA issued preliminary findings that genetically modified mosquitoes would have no significant negative impacts — bringing Florida one step closer to a field test of insects that could prevent the spread of the Zika virus. (STAT)

• Wisconsin is experiencing a cluster of deadly bloodstream infections, and with 15 dead and 33 others sick, investigators are scrambling to figure out how they were infected. (STAT)

• The first US uterine transplant has failed, with the recipient developing a serious complication (which she survived) two weeks after the surgery. (Buzzfeed)

• And finally, a small group of biologists are defying the conventions of their field and “going rogue” by publishing their results online before submitting them for publication. (New York Times)

Claudia Geib is a science writer and editor based on Cape Cod, who specializes in marine and environmental science. Her work has appeared in National Geographic, Hakai Magazine, and Atlas Obscura, among other publications. She is a graduate of the MIT Graduate Program in Science Writing.