The term "forever chemicals" has been used to describe polyfluorinated organic molecules that are prone to bioaccumulation and highly resistant to breakdown by ordinary environmental mechanisms. The older term "persistent organic pollutants," [1] as codified in the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, is a broader way of referring to the same concept.

The Materials Project is for inorganic crystals. The project will not unleash new forever chemicals because it doesn't deal with organic molecules.

[1] https://www.epa.gov/international-cooperation/persistent-org...

I would agree with your comment, but I think it's fair to ask this question. Discovering new materials can have many unintended consequences, especially if they contain elements that are not earth abundant or have high costs (environmental, personal) associated with their extraction.

Yes this comment is easily dismissed as anti-science. But it’s not. It’s anti-harmful-technology. Until we learn to clean up our messes (using science!) I don’t believe we should get to make new messes. So, yeah it’s cool they made a database of materials, but what are materials people doing coming up with new materials - some of which will bio-accumulate - when our bodies are still filling up with all the other junk previous materials people came up with? It’s long past due for technology workers to take responsibility for their work and stop adding to the “technical debt” of environmental toxins we’re swimming in.

> Until we learn to clean up our messes (using science!) I don’t believe we should get to make new messes

What if the new materials are necessary to clean up the old messes?

With your method, we'd be stuck forever!

> Until we learn to clean up our messes (using science!) I don’t believe we should get to make new messes

Software, biology and chemistry are not even remotely comparable!

I can pretty easily compare them…

Software pollutes our culture and damages our political environments with toxic platforms, adtech tracking nightmares that have been co-opted by Stasi-esque government agencies. Those are just the first two things that come to mind.

Biology… hasn’t done too much harm. Biology’s biggest crime to date that I can think of is probably suicide seeds. Maybe there are things I’m not thinking of. Certainly crispr and GMOs pose a risk, but the benefits have outweighed the risk pretty well. But maybe we’ve just gotten lucky.

Chemistry… has a very long list. Forever chemicals, mustard gas and other chemical weapons, the chemical dousing chambers of el paso texas (search “bath riots”) and their legacy…