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.
Not the big solution that’s hoped for then, I guess.
We use this molecule to make numerous other things, like vanilla flavoring per the article….
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zFZ5jQ0yuNA
This guy makes cool chemistry videos
Lots of things are toxic, we can deal with them in industrial settings just fine. Pretty much everything we use is toxic at some point in its manufacturing process
Cool, good thing all of those landfills full of plastic won’t leak those chemicals anywhere.
Just don’t do it in the landfills, then? Ethylene glycol is a chemical with practical uses, there’s no reason not to collect it in a recycling facility.
Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.
I don’t think anyone is suggesting you manufacture this enzyme and just pour it onto a landfill.