• @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    8914 days ago

    Interesting, but I wonder what they break it down to. Is it completely broken down or do they shit nanoplastics?

    • @CleoTheWizard
      link
      English
      9314 days ago

      At a quick glance they break it down into carbon dioxide at about a 50% consumption rate. The rest is excreted as biomass and degraded fragments (which I gather means shorter polymer chains and oxidation). Sounds really good if it’s true.

      Source

      • Kushan
        link
        English
        1214 days ago

        I agree this is probably overall a good thing, but I worry if this bacteria thrives due to the amount of plastic around what that would mean for the amount of CO2 produced.

        • FaceDeer
          link
          fedilink
          714 days ago

          It’s funny, for years I’ve been downvoted or thought to be joking when I point out that putting non-biodegradable plastic into landfills is carbon sequestration. I seriously think it’s a good idea, though. If people are concerned about carbon in the atmosphere then that’s a good way to get it out for the long term.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            English
            2714 days ago

            That only works if the carbon in the plastic originally came from the atmosphere, but we use oil to make plastics. So increased demand for plastic = increased demand for oil, and that oil was already sequestered to begin with.

            • FaceDeer
              link
              fedilink
              513 days ago

              Kind of, but frankly I think that’s a self-defeating hair to split.

              What ultimately matters in the end is simply “is more carbon going into the atmosphere, or less?” It doesn’t matter where the carbon is coming from, all that matters is that less carbon ends up in the atmosphere.

              If I have a plastic object and I send it for recycling or whatever, some of that carbon ends up in the atmosphere. Possibly all of it if it ends up being incinerated, since a lot of plastic “recycling” is not really recycling as you’d expect. If I put it in the landfill, on the other hand, the carbon is locked away effectively indefinitely.

              It doesn’t matter where that plastic object came from, I’m just faced with a choice of what to do with it.

          • Kushan
            link
            English
            013 days ago

            Whoops 😅

    • @WhyFlip
      link
      1714 days ago

      They turn into 3-D printers.

      • ddh
        link
        fedilink
        English
        1914 days ago

        Wow just realised i’m technically a 3D printer. Aaand that’s enough internet for today.

    • IAmLamp
      link
      fedilink
      1214 days ago

      And how much of the plastic remains in the food chain when animals eat the worms? This likely isn’t the good news that it appears to be on the surface. I know an old lady who swallowed a fly….

  • @SpruceBringsteen
    link
    4514 days ago

    This is one of those stories that pops up every year and nothing is ever done with it.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      2214 days ago

      Yep. This.

      Same thing with reddit “hey there’s a cure for cancer and these ragtag students discovered this which will change the world!”

      5 years later

      “…”

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        913 days ago

        Discovery gets bought for an obscene amount of money, NDA is signed, discovery is never spoken of again.

        • @Jiggle_Physics
          link
          1413 days ago

          This is very rarely the case. Almost always they come across some draw back, that makes it completely impractical, and 5-10-15- whatever, years pass without anyone overcoming said drawback.

          • @isyasad
            link
            613 days ago

            Cancer treatment also has had lots of improvements but they aren’t newsworthy if they’re not the Cure to Cancer™️

            • @Jiggle_Physics
              link
              513 days ago

              Yeah, lots of people do not realize it is not one disease, it is unregulated cell growth, of many kinds, caused by many diseases.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        313 days ago

        Mostly because it was found not to be effective in trials, or it had some side effect that made it a bad idea. See thalidomide for an example of what happens when you don’t test properly.

  • @HomerianSymphony
    link
    3114 days ago

    Instead of releasing a huge number of these insects into trash sites (which isn’t practical)

    Try it anyway!

    • FuglyDuck
      link
      English
      3414 days ago

      Hmmm… How to create an invasive species in 3…2…1…

      • @Etterra
        link
        1314 days ago

        They’re mealworms of a species already found on numerous continents, I think it’ll be fine.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          714 days ago

          About time!


          The kind of funny thing is that if this happened for real, the next big plastic product would just be pesticide impregnated plastics. And then we’d have pesticide microplastics everywhere!

        • @pageflight
          link
          English
          514 days ago

          Back to building with stone, metal, and wood.

  • @Tikiporch
    link
    2014 days ago

    We’re all plastic eating insects.

    • doctorskull
      link
      313 days ago

      And here I’ve been eating plastic insects this whole time like a fool

  • @socialmedia
    link
    2013 days ago

    Something eats these insects and then we in turn eat those somethings.

    This is not a way to save us from microplastics. Centuries from now that shit will still be in dirt particles all over the world.

    The best thing to be done is go back in time 100 years and stop people from making millions of tons of plastic bullshit.

    The second best thing is to stop making millions of tons of plastic bullshit.

    • @Manifish_Destiny
      link
      813 days ago

      That entirely depends if the insect or bacteria or fungi turn it into a different chemical.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    1613 days ago

    While the ability to counteract styrofoam pollution is of course good, sadly this doesn’t apply to other plastics in general. Some plastics are physically hard or chemically much harder to break than polystyrene (PP, PVC, ABS, anything that it fiber reinforced) .

    So, while the worms are nice, one should not hope they can help with other plastics.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      813 days ago

      On the plus side, this does show that all the plastic we have put into the environment has been a niche energy source just waiting to be exploited.

      Now think about all the plastic surface area in the oceans and stuff, I bet there are other things, bacteria and microfauna, which are actively adapting to consume it.

  • @ThatWeirdGuy1001
    link
    1613 days ago

    It’ll be exterminated for being “woke” and “caring about climate change”

  • @crank0271
    link
    English
    1314 days ago

    I have had it with these motherfcking mealworm larvae that are capable of consuming polystyrene on this motherfcking plane!

  • @xc2215x
    link
    214 days ago

    Wow. A neat insect for sure.