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Scientists discover wax worms can eat polyethylene: the type of plastic in plastic bags.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/04/wax-worms-eat-plastic-polyethylene-trash-pollution-cleanup/
Some enzyme in the worm breaks down the plastic so scientists were making worm mush and smearing them on plastic. This is great and; biodegrading plastic. But is it ethical? Wax worms arw kawaii af.
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>>2365490
Who would win?
Humans
or
Waxworms
There'a your answer
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>>2365490
I wonder if this means vegans can no longer use plastic products because worms could be used commercially to break it down
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>>2365490
This is actually amazing
We've solved the recycling problem! The massive amounts of dead moth we have will be fertilizer/pet food/people food
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>>2365506
If we can turn them into an edible protein source perhaps? The article talks about creating the enzyme the worms use on an industrial scale and just spraying landfills
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What do you mean "Scientists"? Some crazy guy on youtube made a video about this over a year ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kKizTIStVw
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>>2365528
That's not polyethylene, that's polystyrene
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>>2365659
This has everything to do with animals and nature. /out/ would only care if you could pack wax worm eggs in a multi tool to disolve your camping waste
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>>2365506
>>2365521
They're common food for reptiles and small pets that eat bugs. I've eaten them before, they're alright. Fun to play with since they're no squishy and soft.
I recall bugs are better for protien sources but I don't know how true that is. Either way I can't see eating bugs being the norm and not just a novelty for us.
Also the article is talking about harnasing the enzymes they produce to break down plastic. It says right there a hundred of them would take a month to dissolve a bag. We would need trillions upon trillions of them to dissolve just one person's average household waste. These are also larva. They turn into moths. Their wings would black out the sun.
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>>2365675
Turn the moths into fertilizer
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>>2365678
This is what would happen; people aren't gonna eat worms that eat plastic
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>>2365675
id imagine that they'd be able to create synthetic versions of the enzymes, that or they're gonna breed super plastic dissolving enzyme waxworms
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>>2366168
>super plastic dissolving enzyme waxworms
That grow 10inches long and turn into giant moths
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>>2366262
This is Mothra's origin story.
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>>2365498
It's not like less plastic use ould be a bad thing
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>>2366509
I feel bad for whales who eat plastic instead of delicious krill
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