'Superworms' Can Digest Styrofoam, Australian Scientists Find (bloomberg.com) 54
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Scientists in Australia have discovered that superworms can live and even grow on a diet of only polystyrene, also known colloquially as Styrofoam. Superworm is a common name for the larval stages of the darkling beetle (Zophobas morio). The researchers described their finding as a "first step" in discovering natural enzymes that could be used to recycle this type of plastic. "We envision that polystyrene waste will be collected, mechanically shredded, and then degraded in bioreactors with an enzyme cocktail," said Chris Rinke, a scientist at the University of Queensland and an author of a paper published on Thursday in the journal Microbial Genomics.
In recent years, scientists globally have been looking for microorganisms that can digest plastic, which is how natural materials like wood biodegrade. The idea is that some kind of enzyme engineered from the gut of an insect or bacteria could be used to digest difficult-to-recycle plastic so it could be made into new plastic products, which would reduce the need for virgin plastic. Used for things such as coffee cups and packing peanuts, polystyrene is one of the most common plastics in production. It accounts for "up to 7-10% of the total non-fibre plastic production," according to the paper.
Experimenters divided worms into three groups and fed each a different diet: bran, polystyrene or a starvation diet. The worms that lived on polystyrene were not as healthy as those eating bran, but they were able to eat the Styrofoam and gain weight and complete their life cycle. However, the report also found that the diet had "negative impacts on host gut microbiome diversity and health" of the worms. In other words, they could eat plastics, but it had a cost to them. It would theoretically be possible to keep thousands of worms in an industrial setting to digest plastics. But the researchers say their next goal is to identify and enhance the enzyme the worms use for future applications.
In recent years, scientists globally have been looking for microorganisms that can digest plastic, which is how natural materials like wood biodegrade. The idea is that some kind of enzyme engineered from the gut of an insect or bacteria could be used to digest difficult-to-recycle plastic so it could be made into new plastic products, which would reduce the need for virgin plastic. Used for things such as coffee cups and packing peanuts, polystyrene is one of the most common plastics in production. It accounts for "up to 7-10% of the total non-fibre plastic production," according to the paper.
Experimenters divided worms into three groups and fed each a different diet: bran, polystyrene or a starvation diet. The worms that lived on polystyrene were not as healthy as those eating bran, but they were able to eat the Styrofoam and gain weight and complete their life cycle. However, the report also found that the diet had "negative impacts on host gut microbiome diversity and health" of the worms. In other words, they could eat plastics, but it had a cost to them. It would theoretically be possible to keep thousands of worms in an industrial setting to digest plastics. But the researchers say their next goal is to identify and enhance the enzyme the worms use for future applications.
I for one... (Score:5, Funny)
Ivermectin house paint (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
It's one thing being able to eat it do do they enjoy it and thrive on it?
That's what we really need - something that thinks nurdles are delicious and can digest them easily.
.
Re: (Score:3)
Your answer is right there in TFS, let alone in TFA and the paper: No.
Naah... (Score:3)
It's one thing being able to eat it do do they enjoy it and thrive on it?
Naah... It's what happens with all those stabilized and rather difficult to spontaneously oxidize chains of carbon atoms.
One of these days it will dawn on the genpop that turning petrochemicals into plastic, then having something turning that plastic into energy is just more of the old pumping of CO2 into atmosphere but with extra steps.
Extra steps which are probably powered by burning more petrochemicals.
Getting some worms to eat plastic and shit diamonds (or graphite [valmec.com.au] - I'm not greedy) - now THAT would be
Re: (Score:1)
Geez, I used to be a schoolteacher... I am not sure how I would teach the food chain, water cycle, and other "natural cycles" to this next generation.
Re:I for one... (Score:4, Funny)
Re: Are we caring for worm health now? (Score:2, Interesting)
We should care about, and try to stop, any extreme suffering of all sentient beings. If that is woke, deal with it. However, I do not think worms are sentient.
Re: (Score:2)
Wow dude. No one went there until you did. Congrats, I guess.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Well, Caligula agreed with you.
Re: (Score:2)
Worms may be sentient, that would not be a revolutionary concept.
Calling them sapient, on the other hand, would be a controversial claim.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: Are we caring for worm health now? (Score:1)
Re:Are we caring for worm health now? (Score:5, Insightful)
However, the report also found that the diet had "negative impacts on host gut microbiome diversity and health" of the worms. In other words, they could eat plastics, but it had a cost to them.
...have we reached a new woke level that I'm unaware of where we have caring for bugs health now?
I think a less stupid thought would be that if eating the plastics is detrimental, it's not sustainable and the worms will get too sick to continue eating plastics, or will die -- perhaps before reproducing -- and will need to be replaced prematurely. If the diet wasn't detrimental, the worms would stay alive and healthy enough to keep on eating more plastic. It's a cold, hard cost / benefit / ROI, not "woke" thing.
Re: (Score:2)
It may even be beneficial to have a negative effect to prevent the worms from consuming all of the Styrofoam if any get loose.
Engineer the worms to like plastics (Score:2)
This has become much more realistic in recent years. DNA synthesis is commonplace. Protein folding is partially understood.
And then put the genes into bacteria, not worms. Then serial passage the engineered bacteria through various plastics until they evolve to thrive on them, and then release them into the environment.
What could possibly go wrong?
SARS-2 is just the beginning of what this technology can achieve!
Re: (Score:2)
And then put the genes into bacteria, not worms. Then serial passage the engineered bacteria through various plastics until they evolve to thrive on them, and then release them into the environment. What could possibly go wrong?
Pondered in 1973: Mutant 59: The Plastic-Eaters [amazon.com]
Re: (Score:2)
+1. But now, with modern technology, it has become a real possibility. That said, there are many different types of plastic.
Re:Are we caring for worm health now? (Score:4, Insightful)
Have you reached a new scared-of-woke level that you're incapable of thinking about consequences of actions?
Oh, wait. That's how we got here. Carry on in fear, coward. It will all be over soon.
Re: (Score:1)
Well, they're sentient enough to make masochistic comments on /. like yours, right.
On a more serious note: if you don't care about this sort of stuff they might die early, making the process more expensive. Because then you need to replace the worms constantly, instead of just letting them do their thing while you feed them styrofoam.
Thankfully my gut feeling (eh) says that this is caused by a lack of nutrients, not something that styrofoam has that is screwing up their health. (I might be wrong.) If that's
Re: (Score:2)
I know you're just a sad troll but if you think bug health isn't important you've missed a lot of the stuff about bees that has been written on this very website
Now McDonald’s has no excuse (Score:2, Funny)
Now McDonald’s has no excuse, bring back the McDLT
Re: (Score:2)
I'll wait for the clinical trials (Score:2)
Feeder worms (Score:3)
I'd love for them to find out if the health of animals that regularly consume superworms would be negatively impacted by eating these worms.
Which phylum 'superworms'? Flat? Round? Segmented? (Score:1)
What kind of worms are they anyway? I remember from high school biology flatworms (platyhelminthes), roundworms (nematohelminthes), segmented worms (annelida). Also fly larvae used to be thought of as 'worms'. As in Henry 4th Part one, where Prince Hal has the death conversation with Hotspur where Hotspur's last words are:
O, I could prophesy,
But that the earthy and cold hand of death
Lies on my tongue: no, Percy, thou art dust
And food for--
Dies
and Prince Henry continues the sentence
For worms, brave Percy: fare thee well, great heart!
Ah well, it's late and I'm feeling nerdier than usual, hence the Shakespeare quote. But I'm also skeptical that styrofoam has all the minerals, v
Re: (Score:3)
That's exactly why the worms kind-of-survive but are not healthy and only some managed to complete a life cycle. It's kind of as if you kept humans on nothing but McDonalds diet.
Re: (Score:1)
I find it hard to believe that any of them could survive on pure styrofoam. Perhaps the styrofoam was contaminated and they got just enough of the other essential nutrients to survive. But the minimal article doesn't say anything about that so I'm speculating. And, if that's the case, the next step would be to figure out how to introduce enough of those other essential nutrients to maximize the efficiency of disposing of styrofoam. That's where the engineers step in.
Re: (Score:2)
I agree it would seem like they must have had some other nutrient source at least in their developmental portion of the life cycle. Though cannibalizing their decease (or heck still living ancestors) might also account for most of it. After that Styrofoam is a hydrocarbon so certainly could provide the energy required to keep life going.
Re: (Score:2)
As to which phylum, they're "Insecta" a part of "Arthropoda". They're a kind of beetle. Worm is just descriptive of the phase. Grub might have been better, but the name wasn't given by a biologist.
Re: (Score:1)
A beetle larva then? I mentioned fly larva in my OP, but it seems the Shakespearean sense of worm was pretty close as they're both 'insecta'.
As grubs I suppose they use the styrofoam hydrocarbons for energy and maybe get other nutrients from what is included with their egg. Do insect eggs include food stuff the way bird eggs do? And the 'worms' wouldn't have their whole life cycle living on styrofoam either, just their larval stage..
Re: (Score:2)
I'm no specialist in the area, I was repeating from the summary. But grubs are generally a LOT larger than the eggs they come from, as they must be, because they loose mass when they pupate to turn into an adult form.
Does this mean... (Score:2)
We can have back the superior styrofoam McDonald's Clam Shell Container [si.edu]?
What is the byproduct? (Score:3)
So after the worms eat, and presumably digest the styrofoam, do they shit? What do they excrete? I tried to read the paper, but from my brief look, I don't think there is a breakdown on what the faeces contains, in terms of the broken down bits (they seem to concentrate more on the bacteria, etc found in the faeces).
Concern over worm-fæces (Score:2)
Frankly, I'm a little more concerned over what else this species will find palatable...
The shorter the lifecycle, the faster the mutations [quantamagazine.org] — how long before the kind, that thrives on plastic, develops? Are we going to have worry about plastic surfaces deteriorating as we currently worry about rust on the metals?
Re: (Score:1)
My first reaction to the idea that all plastics might become vulnerable is that I'm not sure that would be such a bad thing. It would mean a lot of infrastucture might eventually have to be replaced. And, on a personal level I suppose people have a lot of things they want to preserve.
I reckon carbon fiber might become the plastic of the future.
That is a great quote you have in your sig BTW.
Could superworms eat PVC pipes? (Score:2)
Imagine if such worms ever escaped and started devouring underground PVC pipes everywhere.
Do superworms create methane? (Score:2)
Or any other hazardous byproducts?
Re: (Score:2)
Well, there's Slurm.
Hmm... Slurm...
The Wood Scenero (Score:2)
Years of lost styrofoam coolers (Score:1)
Have NOT accumulated in the Tennessee River. People have lost coolers on the shore, dropped them from boats, you name it. At minimum since the 1960s when I was a frequent visitor as a child on fishing trips with my Dad.
Yet, 60 years of pollution has not covered the banks with coolers.
Why?
Because the damn things degrade in the light. Sunshine is the ultimate sterilizer.
Re: (Score:1)
My experience has been the opposite. Camping at Jordan Lake in North Carolina, I was apalled at the amount of styrofoam on the banks of the lake. It was all tiny chopped-up pieces - four of us spent about an hour trying to clean up what we could, but we didn't even make a noticeable dent in the 400 square feet of bank we tried to clean. Styrofoam is a scourge.
Re: (Score:2)
I thought this was going to be about (Score:1)