Orak rolled his eyes and said, “He is looking for superworms after I told him about the new study stating that superworms can eat plastic. These worms can help reduce plastic waste and help control climate change.”
“Wow, that’s wonderful,” Scorch remarked.
“But isn’t plastic harmful for animals and insects?” said Verum.
“Not for Zophobas morio, commonly known as superworms. Scientists found that these worms have bacteria in the gut that helps them digest plastic,” Orak said.
Orak explained, “A team of Australian scientists conducted an experiment. They fed superworms different diets for three weeks. Some superworms were given polystyrene foam (a plastic substance), while others were given bran (the brown outer covering of grains).
The weight of the superworms that were fed polystyrene increased, thanks to the bacteria in their gut. This finding tells us that superworms get energy from eating polystyrene!”
“So, superworms are helpful to the environment!” Verum said.
Orak replied, “Indeed. Scientists are now going one step further. They plan to grow the superworms’ gut bacteria in the lab. They will test to see if it can degrade polystyrene. If it’s successful, superworms’ gut bacteria can be used to degrade plastic waste on a large scale!”
“I found one! I found one!” Felix came running into the dorm room with a superworm in his hand!