
Mealworms can eat and biodegrade styrofoam - mikenyc
http://news.stanford.edu/pr/2015/pr-worms-digest-plastics-092915.html
======
devy
This was barely a new discovery at all. A Taiwanese high school sophomore
discovered it in 2009. [1]

Use Google Translate if you don't read traditional Chinese. [2]

[1]: [http://archive.is/27Jb](http://archive.is/27Jb) [2]:
[https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=zh-
CN&tl=en&js=y&p...](https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=zh-
CN&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Farchive.is%2F27Jb&edit-
text=&act=url)

~~~
devindotcom
I remember this! Couldn't put my finger on it when I was reading about the
Stanford study earlier.

The new study, however, is a controlled one that raises mealworms strictly on
styrofoam and compares their health to a control generation. It's more about
the fact that they can digest styrofoam continuously and with no ill effects
than that they can do it at all. After all, worms that die of plastic toxicity
or something after a couple days (perhaps bc the bacteria wear themselves out)
aren't a very effective solution.

~~~
devy
Stanford's press release reads like they discovered this plastic eating
mealworm like a new idea but it really wasn't. To me the new study is just a
continuation of the previous discovery.

Also, there are so many Intel ISEF awarded research projects each year. But
most of them seem to have gone nowhere. Rarely, some of them turned out to be
very good ideas many years later. I wonder what the disconnect is.

~~~
devindotcom
Well, science certainly builds on itself incrementally, and the further
exploration of an existing idea is no less valid a direction of study than a
"new" idea. As for the ISEF stuff... well, who knows. Hopefully it gives young
folks a bit of a push in the right direction, though.

I wish I had access to the full paper, though - it may be that they referenced
the 2009 study but Stanford didn't think it necessary to include that in the
press release - which is, after all, a press release.

------
jobu
This is the key part:

 _Microorganisms in the worms ' guts biodegrade the plastic in the process_

The question is whether we can harness these bacteria to break down plastics
in landfills.

~~~
munificent
I think the real scary question is _what happens if we do_.

One of the main reasons we use plastics is because they are great barriers
against bacteria and other grossness. We wrap food in plastic, put dirty
diapers and dog poop in plastic, put garbage in plastic, wrap raw meat in
plastic, use plastic for medical equipment. All because it reliably keeps out
(or in) the bad stuff.

What happens if there are plastic-eating bacteria all over the world? Imagine
what it would feel like if everywhere we currently used plastic we were using
uncoated paper instead? What kind of sanitization problems would we be
experiencing?

~~~
MengerSponge
These bacteria aren't going to be Andromeda-strain like superbugs that can eat
through plastic in seconds. Plastic that is dense and strongly crosslinked
will take much longer to decompose, fortunately.

Instead of uncoated paper, what about waxed paper? It's impermeable on a
reasonably long timescale, and is fully biodegradable too.

~~~
TeMPOraL
It doesn't have to happen that fast to be bad. Such bacteria would be like
rust to metal. A lot of our things are based on plastics; it would not be good
if suddenly everything started to "rust" and break.

~~~
userbinator
Then again, some companies might like the fact that it could be another form
of forced obolescence...

Personally, the inertness of plastics really suggests recycling and reusing;
it's somewhat sad that we've invented materials that can last almost forever,
and yet so many people are treating them as disposable and creating waste in
the process.

~~~
TeMPOraL
I was thinking more along the lines of contagious plastic-eating rust
destroying civilization by attrition, but yours is a scary thought as well. As
for plastic waste, I just vented out about it yesterday.
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10308556](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10308556).

------
blisterpeanuts
Moving forward, can't we tax or ban styrofoam food containers, to encourage
vendors to switch to paper and cardboard?

Less nasty crap in our landfills, and less plastics in our food and hot
drinks, too.

~~~
ohitsdom
Why do companies choose styrofoam anyway? Is it cheapest? Should be illegal
based solely on the sound it makes when it rubs together.

~~~
ssmoot
Your car probably has it (behind the bumper cover). Helmets have it. Your home
may have it. It's light, it insulates, it absorbs the energy of impact (once
at least).

I don't know if there are effective, inexpensive substitutes for those uses.

~~~
freshyill
For some things, it's the best material. I don't think most reasonable people
would say we should ban styrofoam when it's the best material in a safety
application.

For others, like food containers, it's almost purely for cost reasons when
other solutions exist.

~~~
bdamm
Consider that if styrofoam cups were banned worldwide, then the cost of
bicycle helmets would go down initially and then up later.

~~~
freshyill
That puts us one step closer to eliminating styrofoam in bicycle helmets. It
may be that there are other very good or better materials that are currently
too expensive, but whose prices could be brought down by widespread adoption.

~~~
ssmoot
I'd be surprised. It's used in motorcycle helmets as well and there's
definitely a market for pretty pricey motorcycle helmets if you could claim
they were better in any marginal way.

------
jkyle
They're also a tasty, environmentally friendly source of protein. [1]

1\. [http://news.discovery.com/earth/mealworms-beat-beef-as-
susta...](http://news.discovery.com/earth/mealworms-beat-beef-as-sustainable-
protein-20121220.htm)

------
Tharkun
How is this any better than burning + energy recuperation?

~~~
hobbes78
Plastic is inert in a landfill, but occupies a lot of space. If it's burned,
CO2 is released into the atmosphere and toxic ashes are left behind, although
way less space is occupied. If all plastic is degraded by these bacteria,
apparently no disadvantages seem to be present.

~~~
PixelB
Well, not quite.

"The worms converted about half of the Styrofoam into carbon dioxide, as they
would with any food source."

So they produce CO2 as well as a byproduct.

~~~
kijin
The byproduct is called poop, and the article says it can be used as
fertilizer.

------
nikolaj
I can't help but think of a Simpsons episode. ... but who will eat all the
Darkling Beetles?

Oh, no problem for that we brought in Malaysian bats.

But what about all the bats?

Oh we have a plan: we have Indonesian tree boas that love to eat Malaysian
bats.

And the boas?

That is the best part, come winter, they are not used to the cold and will all
die off...

------
Ensorceled
I can just imagine history classes in 2115, "... then they took those valuable
hydrocarbons and turned them into one use disposable cups. Then they fed the
cups to mealworms removing them forever from productive use as either fuel or
plastic. This insanity was common practice until the planet ran out of
accessible oil reserves in 2075."

~~~
marknutter
"which, as we all know, is a moot point since we discovered <futuristic super
material> in 2043."

------
vecter
Given that polystyrene is C8H8 [0], how can mealworms live without a source of
nitrogen?

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polystyrene](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polystyrene)

~~~
ac29
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrogen_fixation#Biological_n...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrogen_fixation#Biological_nitrogen_fixation)

------
orf
We could try recycling? Dig up dead organisms, turn them into brightly
coloured cups, use them once and throw them away to be turned into worm food.
What an odd system.

------
Houshalter
Wouldn't it be more efficient to burn it? It's going to convert to carbon
dioxide anyway.

~~~
kijin
Burning produces CO2 and toxic fumes.

Worms produce CO2 and fertilizer.

------
smaili
Excuse the ignorance, but could this have any effect at all on genetics or
mutation?

~~~
nolok
Pretty much every thing and anything had an effect on that.

------
skatenerd
If you have trypophobia, consider not clicking the link.

~~~
TomSawyer
It's no worse than the picture that comes up if you look up trypophobia.

~~~
bdamm
I wish I hadn't googled that. It may be time to license photoshop on a certain
kind of ethical requirement to not create certain images. Those images are so
disgusting, my teeth hurt.

~~~
skatenerd
Sorry I put you through that.

------
eveningcoffee
Can they also eat isolation commonly used for housing isolation? Or is it
treated against possible pest attack?

~~~
cwkoss
insulation.

Some housing insulation is also polystyrene, so probably.

~~~
eveningcoffee
I know that a fungus that was able to process polystyrene was found from
Amazon rain forest.

I do not think that we should regard any of this as good news.

------
ilitirit
Imagine living in a world where one day you wake up to find half your car
eaten by pests...

------
wfunction
Is it really a good idea to convert plastic to CO2?

~~~
hippich
"The worms converted about half of the Styrofoam into carbon dioxide, _as they
would with any food source._ "

~~~
hanoz
So as long as we only hunt down already existing worms and substitute their
other food source with plastic, there should be no impact.

------
rw2
This could be a great compost experiment.

