There I was thinking I was as sustainable as Bear Grylls on an island with only some lice and his own piss for company

The scientists discovered it by accident: An enzyme that eats plastic. Imagine discovering something that incredible by accident? I’ve never discovered anything by accident. At least not by myself.

As part of a family, however, I was witness to a landmark discovery in about 1986. We found that the wick adjuster knob on a Para-glo paraffin oil heater perfectly fitted the channel-changing slot on our 12-inch Sanyo black-and-white television.

The original knob had broken off and been mislaid and we had been using a small pliers to change the channel. (The 1980s, man; what a hell of a time to be alive.) But no more pliers.