Plastic is made from oil and natural gas, which started out as fossilized plant and animal material. But buried deep underground for millions of years, those materials changed in important ways.

However, new research conducted at Cornell University has now shown us that our gastrointestinal bacteria might not only be eating the food we eat, they may also be eating the plastics.

Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to [email protected]. If plastic comes from oil and gas, which ...

To better understand why plastics don’t biodegrade, let’s start with how plastics are made and how biodegradation works. Oil, also known as petroleum, is a fossil fuel. That means it’s made from the ...