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Inside This Issue
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My Rudolph Ornament Is Always on Top
PRIMARY
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BLACK Norah’s Eye Treatment Subway’s Advice Alley 50% BLACK
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Festive Holiday Dog Cookies You’re a Mainstay, Mr. Grinch
SECONDARY
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These Bugs Love Takeout Containers
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THESE ‘SUPERWORMS’ COULD SAVE OUR PLANET Meet the Bugs With a Taste for Plastic
Hundreds of years after you die and decompose, the Styrofoam takeout containers you used for last night’s Thai food will still linger in the landfill. Scientists estimate it takes thousands of years for Styrofoam (aka polystyrene) to break down when buried under other trash. Even in direct sunlight, the process takes decades! This is a huge pollution problem — but a tiny bug may be able to solve it. On the other side of the globe, at the University of Queensland in Australia, researchers are keeping a tank full of pets that may save us all from our plastic waste: Zophobas morio, aka the “giant mealworm” or “superworm.”
of the superworm experiment at the University of Queensland, told Science Daily. “The breakdown products from this reaction can then be used by other microbes to create high-value compounds such as bioplastics.” Not only did the worms in the Queensland study eat the Styrofoam, but they actually gained weight from a healthy diet of takeout containers. Their ability to digest plastic is likely thanks to the gut bacteria Dr. Rinke mentioned. If we can grow and control these bacteria, we may be able to set it loose in landfills and turn our trash into something more useful. Superworms haven’t saved us yet — in fact, we usually use the 2-inch brown bugs as food for pet lizards and birds — but it’s about time we put their true potential to work. Fortunately, scientists like Dr. Rinke are on the case.
In the wild, superworms are scavengers that will munch on anything from animals to apples. But in captivity, researchers have found another food they love: Styrofoam. “Superworms are like mini recycling plants, shredding the polystyrene with their mouths and then feeding it to the bacteria in their gut,” Dr. Chris Rinke, the leader
“Our team is very excited to push the science to make it happen,” he said.
To see the superworms in action, head to YouTube.com and search “superworm plastic.”
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