194
submitted 6 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/science@lemmy.world

Wriggling critters armed with enzymes can break down plastics that would otherwise take decades, or even centuries to degrade.

At first glance there's nothing particularly remarkable about waxworms. The larval form of wax moths, these pale wriggling grubs feed on the wax that bees use to make their honeycomb. For beekeepers, the pests are something to swiftly get rid of without a second thought.

But in 2017 molecular biologist Federica Bertocchini, who at the time was researching the embryonic development of vertebrates at the Spanish National Research Council, stumbled on a potentially game-changing discovery about these creatures. 

Bertocchini, an amateur beekeeper, threw some of the waxworms in a plastic bag after cleaning her hive, and left them alone. A short time later, she noticed the worms had started producing small holes in the plastic, which begun degrading as soon as it touched the worms' mouths.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] skillissuer@discuss.tchncs.de 43 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

my guess is that something else will be able to unzip it and use it as an energy source

yep in the linked article it is mentioned that product is ethylene glycol

[-] bobburger@fedia.io 16 points 6 months ago

That's really interesting. Other than the common usage as antifreeze in your car and for airplane de-icing ethylene glycol is a precursor for plastics used in soda bottles. Left on it's own ethylene glycol breaks down into CO2 eventually.

Wikipedia article about ethylene glycol including uses

Stack Overflow answer containing the ethylene glycol decomposition process

[-] DancingBear@midwest.social 11 points 6 months ago

It’s also a molecule that can be used in the process to make any number of other products, including vanilla flavoring, per the article

[-] fsxylo@sh.itjust.works 1 points 6 months ago

Well we don't need more of that... Shit.

this post was submitted on 24 Apr 2024
194 points (97.1% liked)

science

14594 readers
134 users here now

just science related topics. please contribute

note: clickbait sources/headlines aren't liked generally. I've posted crap sources and later deleted or edit to improve after complaints. whoops, sry

Rule 1) Be kind.

lemmy.world rules: https://mastodon.world/about

I don't screen everything, lrn2scroll

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS