I'm going to be endlessly entertained if these worms end up saving the world.

@marcusrobinson1778

Жыл бұрын

Plastic ain't the only problem.

@halatiny6537

Жыл бұрын

@@marcusrobinson1778 it’s a huge one

@marcusrobinson1778

Жыл бұрын

@@halatiny6537 no way? Really?

@FablestoneSeries

Жыл бұрын

I wouldn't be so sure. It is all great if they remained contained where we want them to be. But it is only a matter of time before they accidentally spread everywhere and suddenly car parks are plagued with car eating bugs, warehouses of textiles are destroyed, drones come crashing to the ground, computer farms are destroyed. It is only a matter of time before people start using them as weapons. protestors infecting companies, to terrorists trying to cause as much collateral damage as possible. This could go horribly wrong very quickly.

@TheBelrick

Жыл бұрын

If a microbe got out that ate plastic. You die. Your neighbour dies. Modern civilization dies. How is that good? How did you get so many upvotes? How do you not know this.?

As a beekeeper I've noted the ability of wax-moth larvae to eat everything in their path...even polystyrene...but I thought this was purely mechanical chewing rather than actual digestion...well done that lady for making the connection!

@foryol

Жыл бұрын

I also noticed the ability of every common household moth worm to eat through plastic and also thought it was just a mechanical chewing.

@tavisui4779

Жыл бұрын

eat everything in their path? 😨 i hope they dont evolve and grow into 2 meters tall 🤣 its scary :P

@helentee9863

Жыл бұрын

Same here. Indian meal moths do this too (as l found to my cost ☹) but l just assumed mechanical chewing.

@liammurphy2725

Жыл бұрын

Because? Scientist.

@1904Ernst

Жыл бұрын

@@foryol fkn mice will eat plastic(sometimes at least :D)

Now all we need is to figure out the chemical composition of the enzymes capable of breaking down plastic and recreate them in a lab!

@user-4m9-dr80h4

2 ай бұрын

Yawn. For years now, scientists have been uncovering worms, fungi, bacteria, algae that can easily, quickly, naturally biodegrade plastic into harmless organic compost . . . and every years, millions of tons of plastic are manufactured, used once, and end up in landfills, streams, rivers, oceans, into marine and animal life --- and microplstics into people's cells and DNA.

@larzkruber822

2 ай бұрын

We spend 56 billion dollar to build a translator for animal speech We asked the Worm King His answer was Nom Nom Nom

@sarcasticstartrek7719

2 ай бұрын

Yes, congratulations on manging to watch the video.

@amit30706

2 ай бұрын

Yes, sure biologist are working on that hope so

@amit30706

2 ай бұрын

Hi you are indian🇮🇳 living in USA 🙋🏽‍♂️🙋🏽‍♂️

This is absolutely amazing. A majority of scientific discoveries were discovered by accident such as penicillin, indigo dye, and the list goes on and on. It’s a very exciting time to be alive.

Congrats to Jesse Pinkman in taking up a responsible career and doing good to the environment

@TheFos88

Жыл бұрын

Yeah! Science!

@colonelkernal297

Жыл бұрын

Yo! Mr White! Ima scientist

@mirroredchaos

Жыл бұрын

im glad I wasnt the only person who thought he looked like jesse lol

@youareaclown724

Жыл бұрын

​@@TheFos88 MAGNETS!

@lullaby218

Жыл бұрын

Don't believe anything in this v|deo.

This reminds me a bit of something odd that occurred in my own field (pest control). The termite bait we use is actually made primarily out of plastic. The company that makes the bait had an issue with a phone line, and found that it was being eaten by termites. Turns out that there's a kind of plastic that termites like to eat. I'm not sure if it's the same sort of case, but to me it's a little funny. It also means the bait last as long as it needs to, and we don't need to worry about it degrading.

@cheth5604

Жыл бұрын

Like maybe a soy based plastic? It’s still a plant derived material

@rayanderson5797

Жыл бұрын

@@cheth5604 I'm afraid I don't know. All I know is that it's a kind of plastic.

@cheth5604

Жыл бұрын

I know that rats would eat the soy based plastics on the wiring of high end cars, so that’s my guess

@Sami-fg2bm

Жыл бұрын

@@cheth5604 well all plastic is plant derived, oil-based plastic is produced by processing oil, which itself is fossilized plants from millions of years ago, whether rats could eat it or not is irrelevant of its source, it only depends on its molecular structure, I think an edible plastic probably could be made, but whether it's quality and price could compete with oil-based plastic is another question.

@cheth5604

Жыл бұрын

@@Sami-fg2bm I’m speaking of the termite bait in particular from the original post because it is designed to be an attractant for termites

Kardashians been real quiet since this came out

I’m humbled to see that a small creature may be able to help save the planet 🙏

@behooman7749

6 күн бұрын

It's not going to be the worms. It's going to be us, every single one of us, making a conscious decision to make a change. If we don't change our mindset, our lifestyles, perhaps this problem might go away, but we'll create other problems.

I’m 60 and after watching this video, these are the kind of discoveries that makes me want to be 10-20 years old again. Because I want so much to be a part of these discoveries, transformations, and possibilities of tackling what initially appeared to be insurmountable problems such as what to do with all the plastic we use daily.

@Ming1975

10 ай бұрын

We can't stop aging but we can do what it takes to live young till the end. I'm 48, kids still see me as a cool teen to hang out with even though i joke a lot about loosing my grey hair.😂

@beethao9380

9 ай бұрын

a leech trying to take the accomplishment of others. shame on you. make your own discoveries.

@shellyu1442

9 ай бұрын

I agree, Life 100 years ago was already so different. Just the fact that we are alive during this time with all these innovations happening in our lifetime is already a miracle. There’s no better time to be alive

@mcfly7

9 ай бұрын

Would you like to have a worm inside of you? It will help digest your food. All problems you see are created.

@camojoe83

9 ай бұрын

Plastic is diesel in solid form, mostly. You just pyrolize it and reclaim the fuel. No need for trying to figure out any new chemistry wizarding. Just heat a pot full of plastic and reclaim the fuel. The end.

The worms are cool and all, but honestly I'm most impressed by the upscaling concept. Not just degrading plastics, but turning them into something USEFUL and marketable. That means there's incentive for a profit-seeking company to actually do it. Microbiology is really starting to take off in some cool directions and it's a damn shame we're not hearing more about it. Heck, I just read an article published recently that some researchers found a way to develop regular ol' brewer's yeast so that it produced THC from glucose. That's... pretty friggin cool. Not because of "lmao 420 blaze it" clout, but because they were able to use the available technology to casually engineer the yeast to do it. When sci-fi writers talk about things like food replicators and the like, this is how I actually see it manifesting. Using bacterium and fungi and other micro-organisms to break down or combine materials into things that can be used in manufacturing. Turning trash into food, fuel, medicine, minerals, you name it. I just hope they are able to use similar methods to process things like PFAs and heavy metals that are being found in higher concentrations in nature. They simply don't biodegrade at all, unless you're counting their atomic half-life.

@spooky5338

Жыл бұрын

Frankly I'd rather it be used as substrate or fertilizer than food.

@Redflowers9

Жыл бұрын

@Spooky no worries, just give it to all the people who like eating processed junk food, they are a form of worm themselves lol

@sylpherstorm

Жыл бұрын

However it is giving possible out of control grey ooze kind of

@downstream0114

Жыл бұрын

I watched a doc on Valmet and every time they made their paper processes more environmentally friendly it seemed like they gained a new product from the "waste" stream.

@mihailhirvonen553

Жыл бұрын

I hate this capitalist world where the only incentive we can think of is proffit. smh.

Next most wanted invention: plastic eating worms resistant plastic 🗿

@S2042S

3 ай бұрын

True

@cbxk1xg

3 ай бұрын

Fire police: "You said your house burned down, because a "worm" was eating the insulation of the power cables? Are you mental?"

@abhinavbisht9851

3 ай бұрын

Then next generation of worms will develop enzymes to digest worms resistant plastic😂😂😂😂

@Dimarious.G

3 ай бұрын

@@abhinavbisht9851 Exactly! 😂

@amanagnihotri9473

3 ай бұрын

And the cycle goes on...

Those worms' digestion is stronger than my will to live

I would be interested in knowing the chemical composition of the worms droppings... This is incredible.

@peppermint-sauce

Жыл бұрын

That was my first thought

@wildlifewarrior2670

Жыл бұрын

I'm sure they tested the poop

@archietiberius5005

Жыл бұрын

​@@RealPlatoishere Yes, I watched the video. Digestion does not equal "renders safe" If their biological processes are just making more micro plastics instead of completely breaking down the plastic the problem has not been solved.

@Seroxm13

Жыл бұрын

​@@archietiberius5005 reducing the plastic is still a win. You just can't solve something instantly, especially a worldwide issue. Huge problems like this will get solved gradually and will take decades.

@archietiberius5005

Жыл бұрын

@@Seroxm13 Which is the exact reason I made my original comment in the first place my dude. I don't think, or expect, it to be solved overnight. I would still like to know what the biological precipitates are after digestion. Edit: Furthermore, my comment specifically refers to microplastics, which are small enough to be /suspended in atmosphere/ and are a much, MUCH larger problem than the existence of plastic in general. Making it smaller and smaller and smaller makes the problem exponentially worse. KZread is wild.

It would be extremely helpful if you provided references to the journal articles that are spoken about.That way, we wouldn't have to go stumbling around looking for it, especially if someone doesn't know how to find a research paper. This is information that should be more easily accessible to the public, should they choose to read further about it.

@Manj_J

Жыл бұрын

Yes to this, they should put links to all the papers and resources in the description for us to find and read on our own as well.

@HABLA_GUIRRRI

Жыл бұрын

this sht has been around for decades. some narcisst millennial numptie at the beeb with his self regarding vocal fried voice just decided to look clevah with it twenty yrs too late with the sea still full of fookin plastic. twats all.

@dddddd211

10 ай бұрын

Then make your own channel smartass...

@Frivals

10 ай бұрын

Exactly

@gijs-janbruil6738

10 ай бұрын

This should have gone without saying!

This video cleared up a lot of question I had about this topic, thank you.

I can just see a farmer accepting plastic to feed the warms and then just feeding it to their chickens on an industrial scale

@punnamrajenderreddy5537

3 ай бұрын

Hope there is no micro plastic in this process😮

@arlynnecumberbatch1056

3 ай бұрын

The worms saliva breaks down plastic, basically deleting the bonds of that plastic

@arlynnecumberbatch1056

3 ай бұрын

Also i dont think chickens eat those kinds of worms or they would prolly face stomach issues

@scrub_lord

3 ай бұрын

chickens will eat anything. im sure they can eat those worms. theyd probably enjoy the protein

@scoobydoobydoooo

3 ай бұрын

picqued my curiosity so I did a quick google just now. 'Wax Moth Larvae Galleria mellonella are a very nutritious livefood full of vitamins and minerals, these are excellent for feeding to very small reptiles and insect eating birds they are also very good at getting reluctant eaters started'. Does this mean chickens? Not sure

I’ve never crossed my fingers so hard 🤞 not for the worms so much, but what we could potentially learn and develop.

@honorablelord67

Жыл бұрын

🤓

@wildlifewarrior2670

Жыл бұрын

All the wax worms are very important also

@Zaxares

Жыл бұрын

This is why conservation is so important. Nature is a gargantuan chemical lab with millions of experiments running every second of every day, with evolutionary fitness being the prize. Plastic is a tremendous waste burden on the planet, but it's ALSO an immense and untapped resource, if only something was able to exploit it. And it seems that, just like it has countless times in the past, some organism has finally found a way to do it. A similar situation occurred millions of years ago during the Carboniferous period, which is when plants first evolved the ability to produce lignin, the central component that makes up wood. Nothing in their environment at the time could attack wood, so the early trees had an immense survival advantage, but the downside was that, once these trees died, you had tons and tons of wood just lying around on the ground that nothing could decompose. (In fact, the vast majority of the world's coal supply dates back to the Carboniferous, from when all of this undecayed wood got buried underground and eventually turned into coal.) Then, finally, a species of fungus developed the enzymes and ability to break down wood, and with all of this bonanza of uneaten wood lying around, it basically spread like wildfire around the world with a near-unlimited food source. Eventually other species and creatures developed similar abilities, but at the end of the day, nature found a solution. That's why conserving rare and unusual species is important, because you never know if one of them holds the key to solving some strange, as yet undiscovered, problem we'll have in the future.

@Nn-uh2kb

Жыл бұрын

Why do you have to add that you don't care about the worms lol

@NZKiwi87

Жыл бұрын

@@Nn-uh2kb I didn’t 🤷‍♀️ you just read it that way.

if this actually works out this could be game changing. Nature is incredible.

@triggeredbyeverything2580

Жыл бұрын

Nature is amazing. Just hairless monkeys tend to fuck it up

@Hana085

Жыл бұрын

God is overwhelmingly awesome

@OmuRenz

Жыл бұрын

​@@Hana085 Don't involve god into this, not everyone believes in him.

@PSy84

Жыл бұрын

@@Hana085 😂😂😂😂😂 So who or what created God?

@bornsniper9531

Жыл бұрын

@@PSy84 your mum

Nature is so incredible! I’ve seen oyster mushrooms digest plastic, cardboard, pretty much anything if you get an aggressive enough strain. I work on a culinary mushroom farm. I wonder if putting large amounts of plastic in an extreme oxygen chamber partially powered by plants would be another possible solution if oxygen can break it down

Very much look forward to hearing about future discoveries in this field. Fantastic and fabulous work by all doing this research. Go science!

@bobmcbobbington9220

22 күн бұрын

Go science. Fix the problems scientists created!

Nature never ceases to amaze me

@dougm6106

3 ай бұрын

I love your avatar xD 1000 noodles !

@FF2Guy

3 ай бұрын

@@dougm6106 thanks

This is amazing, but I can`t help thinking that this would suggest to businesses that they can increase the amount of plastic they produce rather than reduce.....

@narrativeless404

Жыл бұрын

They don't need to do neither actually The amount they produce is enough, and reducing is no longer necessary

@FLPhotoCatcher

Жыл бұрын

There are hundreds of chemicals in plastics that act like potent and harmful hormones in humans - if the enzymes leave *any* amounts of these chemicals in real-world situations, especially concerning plastics made into food additives, human health could suffer even more than if the plastics were just burned for energy. "Forever chemicals" are bad, and also hard to break down. The focus in this video is on the long-chain polymers that make up the bulk of plastics, but the harmful plasticizers and other additives in plastics are ignored.

@RobKlarmann

Жыл бұрын

The solution could be to impose a plastic-production tax on those businesses, with which they fund the research & development for plastic upscaling. 🙂

@excelsior8682

Жыл бұрын

How tf do businesses produce more than they are already producing lol

@koutsioj4762

Жыл бұрын

@@excelsior8682 By expanding their products or how much they produce while still using plastics, instead of partially or fully stop using plastic. It's simple really.

This is so cool! Life finds a way. The image I can't get rid of in my head right now is a moldy computer. 😀

You are my heroes guys thank God your parents invested in your education

@tamikacopeland138

3 ай бұрын

Right like sounds like another pandemic waiting to be discovered for a new future jab to me

OMG, this just explained how the wax moths got to the honey combs I was saving sealed tight in plastic bags. I was like, "no way did they eat through these bags".... I was wrong🙃

That's so incredible! Save more for amazing natural creature.

great stuff know we would start to make head way into these plastic problem can wait to know more 🙂

We made a niche (creating a ton of plastic) and they filled the niche (eating the plastic we created). It's nature and it's awesome

@wildlifewarrior2670

Жыл бұрын

I love nature

@Manj_J

Жыл бұрын

Nature is awesome!

@theplumscrub1627

Жыл бұрын

Truly! Also, I love your profile picture and the game it’s from

@meoff7602

10 ай бұрын

Just shows you that we can only kill ourselves, not nature.

I always had the impression that, geven the enormous amount of plasticwaste in this stage of the antropocene, an organism being capable of digesting (some sort of) plastics would have a huge advantage, and that sooner or later this organism, probably a fungus or a bacterial heterotroph, would show up, or rather, would be discovered, i.e. in developing stage. Great!

@yakb.7690

Жыл бұрын

Problem is we literally engineered these carbon chains to be indestructible.. plastics not reacting with anything or dissolving is why they are so impossible for any organism to break down. Ideally we would just change what we produce but you cant take away human comfort ofc

@ThePickledsoul

Жыл бұрын

I just hope they're kept in their own closed system. Otherwise, say goodbye to the plastic covering on wires, plastic plumbing and similar infrastructure.

@gijs-janbruil6738

Жыл бұрын

I used the word 'fungus', the correct word is 'mould' or 'mold', I bilieve.

@gijs-janbruil6738

Жыл бұрын

@@yakb.7690 Indeed!

@yakb.7690

Жыл бұрын

@@gijs-janbruil6738 No you are fine, Fungus is the term of the entire group of organisms.

Its interesting that it is in natures dna to be able to deal even with plastic. This is one of the few science things these days that are really positive and could togheter with reducing plastic overall, help dealing with this problem. Humans should ones again starting by learning from nature. Bakteria itself is incredible, so flexible, in constant evolution, with the mission to bring everything back to the source. This Planet is truly a gift that humans havent understood yet!

This could be potentially fantastic news for the world if we can reproduce these enzymes in bulk.

The fact that those bacteria and worms evolved plastic-degrading enzymes all by themselves, this fast, makes me much more optimistic for the future. Nature seems to have a much bigger potential for regeneration and self-balancing the system than I had anticipated

@koutsioj4762

Жыл бұрын

Nature will be fine, it has survived much worse and it will probably survive until the planet gets completely destroyed. We, however, will not be fine and neither will the animals of this planet if we don't stop harming it.

@Quetzalcoatl_Feathered_Serpent

Жыл бұрын

Until you realize that others could do it as evolution allows some creatures other than these bacterias and worms and suddenly you might have bugs destroying plastic in things we need.

@NachozMan

Жыл бұрын

@@Quetzalcoatl_Feathered_Serpent You say this like it's a bad thing lmfao. Fuck plastic. Whatever we "NEED" that's made with plastic can or even in the past WAS made without, fuck plastic.

@rainbowprism6242

Жыл бұрын

Eat shit, creationists. And evolve to like it.

@Myria83

Жыл бұрын

@@Quetzalcoatl_Feathered_Serpent Last year I published a short story with that premise...

As a beekeeper and a Biology major, I remember reading this years ago and experimented this with the wax worms I found in my beehives and a plastic bag. Yup, they ate holes out of my plastic thin grocery bag. They are a huge nuisance and destroy my frames for my bees to work and take care of things on so the worms are like a double edge sword (like Chemotherapy). Still, very interesting to see that they can get rid of my trash bag.

@wildlifewarrior2670

Жыл бұрын

So I'm assuming they eat thicker Plastics veriquick also

@Kakashi713

Жыл бұрын

@Wildlife Warrior it depends on the type of plastic as the researcher said. If it was the same as my plastic grocery bag, then yes in theory they should be able to.

@wildlifewarrior2670

Жыл бұрын

@@Kakashi713 yeah I know what he said but I wonder if a few of those could eat a thick piece of plastic in a few months

@Kakashi713

Жыл бұрын

@Wildlife Warrior again, depends on the plastic as they said. There are many types of plastic and they are (to what is seen) capable of eating through two. If you gave them something that is not the two that they eat, then they won't be able to eat it, regardless of the size.

@sdqsdq6274

9 ай бұрын

@@wildlifewarrior2670 doubt they can eat thru plastic bottle

Really interesting and exciting, thank you for sharing!

Thank you

Ive been hearing about this kinda stuff for a while because im so interested in these things and it makes me so happy to see how far weve come fighting the plastic crisis

@alexcisneros2980

9 ай бұрын

Weve

@steveinsbrook2479

8 ай бұрын

What is depressing is that old saying "junk in junk out" or in this case "Toxic in Toxic out" This is no solution, this is just another symptom of the plastic disease, that is poisoning our ecosystem. Its game over.

@realdragon

6 ай бұрын

"Fighting" lol People will literally do anything than use less plastic. Cool now we have plastic eating worms.That doesn't solve the problem

@steveinsbrook2479

6 ай бұрын

@@realdragon They eat toxic waste and crap out the same amount of toxic waste only its smaller and can get deeper into our food chain. Set the doomsday clock to Midnight we are screwed.

I love this. This is basically a modern and real, not magical, version of Alchemy. Turning wood to gold, so to speak. I'm excited to see where this goes.

@user-im7km8tq7j

Жыл бұрын

in macro scale it looks like that but the de-facto difference is that alchemy was about transforming metals which means working on atomic level and changing number of protons in atom while organic chemistry is on molecular level thus it is under common chemistry rules. Physically it is rather nucleosynthesis which is real-life alchemy because there you are not transforming chemicals one into another but transforming the elements.

@SweetLilWren

Жыл бұрын

​@@user-im7km8tq7j it was a metaphor

@user-im7km8tq7j

Жыл бұрын

@@SweetLilWren I know but still wanted to comment an opinion on that, sorry ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

@4m0nym

Жыл бұрын

@@user-im7km8tq7j Interesting information. Thanks!

@JokerFace090

Жыл бұрын

That is what chemistry is, alchemy with the scientific method . Look up vids of a guy turning a plastic glove into hotsauce and another vid of a guy refining impurities out of a 1oz gold bullion.

I really hope they’re pushing forward with this hard.

This is one of the greatest discovery this century so far.

@nikolaykostadinov2335

3 ай бұрын

:D if u think worms eating plastic would solve our plastic problems , you are the lowest IQ guy of the century

I just wonder if this oxidation causes lots and lots of microplastics, or if it actually transforms all the plastic into something else. Extra clarification: the keyword here is 'all'. E.g.: How do we ensure the ratios of enzymes vs plastic are so that all plastic gets transformed and not leave a lot of smaller plastics in the process. To me that sounds like a realistic scenario, but I might be mistaken.

@sodalitia

Жыл бұрын

This whole segment about worms was kind of inconsistent. In one place they say they extracted the enzyme from their saliva. Later they say, the enzymes has to be yet identified. Did they even bother examining the droppings of the worms? For all it is, it could be just worms mechanically shredding the plastic. It's like claiming that humans can digest celulose, because they can eat toilet paper and poop it out in mashed up form. Also that's not helping very much, because the smaller the plastic the more contaminating it is for the ecosystems. Also majority of the plastic pollution on the planet is nylon fishing nets, which is much tougher than your grocery plastic bag. Also all this technophiliac crap about how "science" will save us from plastic one day is a grenwashing obfuscation of actual policy of banning single use plastics altogheter.

@generycenterprise2580

Жыл бұрын

I was wondering about the same thing, they didn't mention the most important question

@DrDanQ92

Жыл бұрын

@@sodalitia Unfortunately whether we ban plastics or not, they're polluting every corner of the earth already and so microbes and other such organisms will probably have to save us. Not to mention the vast amount of problems that banning single use plastics would cause, such as vastly lower shelf life which would further our waste and a lower footprint than most reusable products.

@leightonolsson4846

Жыл бұрын

No once the enzyme which they cite enables the oxidative breaking of the polymer bonds they are not longer plastics!

@ericfleet9602

Жыл бұрын

@ahtan2000 Plastics are just long hydrocarbons. If the worms are able to break down the hydrocarbons, they are incorporating the shorter hydrocarbons into their body.

I hope these discoveries lead to practical ways to deal with plastic pollution, not just solutions that only work in the lab.😊

@sbok9481

Жыл бұрын

The solution with worms are already there. As usual, the research company is probably trying to monetize the concept. That's why she said that we can't simply unleash the worms. Everything on this planet is about money.

@vladislavdonchev1271

10 ай бұрын

9 out of 10 robot building future world domination planning AIs hate this.

@danielsimon4542

10 ай бұрын

Passive aggressive

@heroe1486

9 ай бұрын

​@@danielsimon4542 Redditor

@steveinsbrook2479

8 ай бұрын

What is depressing is that old saying "junk in junk out" or in this case "Toxic in Toxic out" This is no solution, this is just another symptom of the plastic disease, that is poisoning our ecosystem. Its game over.

Thanks A Million I got New KZread Channel from this video to learn more knowledge

Nature is a form of the creator , this is awesome

@yashwant675

3 ай бұрын

Aayein

Anyone else got the urge to introduce a bunch of these things to the nearest amazon warehouse?

@robertm3329

Жыл бұрын

Well that doesn’t seem very productive

@karezaalonso7110

Жыл бұрын

no but to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

@MrChristianDT

Жыл бұрын

Well, we'll have to teach them to swim first, but...

@nunyabitnezz2802

Жыл бұрын

No, just psychos.

@stocktonjoans

Жыл бұрын

@@nunyabitnezz2802 psychos are people too

This is LITERALLY the plot of the game STRAY, where you play a cat. They developed something that could eat plastic and it mutated into something that tried to eat basically any living thing it could, eventually ending civilization. Only a few sentient robots were left behind.

@suikun245

Жыл бұрын

The best explanation I found about this game, was that humans died from a plague due to the high density of the environment, and because there was no sun to kill some common bacteria and also provide vitamin D to keep the human metabolism working correctly, lots of people started do become ill and eventually die. The Zurks (evolved bacteria) mutated hundreds of thousands of years after human extinction (at least from that shelter)

What a fascinating video!

This sounds really promising!!! I pray that scientists are able to develop their research into a viable solution to upscaling plastics!!! Way to go guys!!!!!

I heard about this 15 years ago. So where has it been all these years?

@emc5678

Жыл бұрын

Your medal is in the mail.

@freevipservers

Жыл бұрын

@@emc5678 You need a medal for how far that comment went over your head!

What I want to know is are they testing how these enzymes and chemicals effect the earth/soil/water/marine life? This is so wonderful AND if your going to put it out on the 🌎 to help the environment, you should know how it will effect the environment. However I'm grateful that there are scientists thinking about this and trying to fond ways to deal with this problem! 🎉

@koutsioj4762

Жыл бұрын

Yes, it sounds promising in theory but I'm still a bit skeptical. I really hope these worms don't leave microplastics or other harmful substances behind and the upscaling of plastic truly becomes possible. Meaning that it wouldn't need too much energy, time or money.

@foryol

Жыл бұрын

I think, that's something we should always keep in mind when developing new solutions. It's often overlooked and leaves as with other problems in the end.

@adamofblastworks1517

Жыл бұрын

They probably aren't even close to being able to start that research, though I would definitely like to see it happen.

We as humans have such a capacity to fix modern issue however if it’s not financially lucrative nobody is going to do it. Very interesting and compelling video.

@phelan8385

Жыл бұрын

That's one of my biggest frustrations in this world

@Stefanitza27

Жыл бұрын

The currency creators can afford ANYTHING as long as there are real resources available! The entire world suffers and people die over a simple misconception of money 😢 #LearnMMT

"life always finds a way"

This is actually really cool.

Can't wait till I get into Organic Chemistry next semester. I wanna learn all about the breakdown of polymers, and all the natural processes that come with the class

@lemedico

Жыл бұрын

And then you break bad

@wrathofzombies

Жыл бұрын

Exceptionally beautiful thought and I would recommend you read on the side, if you don't get access to information in your course material. Best of luck.

@FLPhotoCatcher

Жыл бұрын

Note that the focus in this video was on the long-chain polymers that make up the bulk of plastics, but the harmful plasticizers, "forever chemicals" and other additives in plastics were ignored. Making food flavorings from plastic should be very illegal.

@Bloodybear06

Жыл бұрын

Organic Chemistry is fun! Loved every second of it because my professor was very good at teaching it. Hope it also does the same to you.

@Arexack999

Жыл бұрын

Try to add some extra biochemistry classes to your curriculum that should really help in inderstanding the biology side of these interdisiplinary studies. Maybe add some microbiology, possibly some nano etc. Good luck !

The potential of this is actually fascinating.

It’s a beautiful thought

I felt pity at first when they said waxworms can digest the plastic. I was like their species would be extinct by just digesting entire planet plastic. 😂

I've done a research of this last year, found that it does eat plastic. I was going to use it as my SIP in my school, but then I found that out that it can only eat thin plastic (I mean, it would be really the key if it can eat at least something like a plastic bottle, but no). It's still useful though from the help of nature, but it's us still who help ourselves.

@camojoe83

9 ай бұрын

It's cheaper and faster to extract the hydrocarbons via pyrolysis. Always will be and it's more useful. Cheap, too. That's why it's non existent.

@objectzer070

9 ай бұрын

@@camojoe83 Did we watch the same video? Is not existent because as pointed out in the video THE WORM ARE NOT THE SOLUTION BUT THE ENZYMES THEY CREATED.

@sheilalara5431

3 ай бұрын

Well, it's also humans who brought this problem upon ourselves.

@98Zai

3 ай бұрын

It's pretty difficult to recycle thin plastics, so that's actually a good thing. This will be used for plastic that is too broken to recycle again. None of this will solve the problem of lazy people dumping rubbish in the sea.

@MasterMayhem78

3 ай бұрын

With all your research did you learn that these worms only process plastic into nano-plastic waste? Did you learn that there’s zero nutritional value in which nothing is absorbed into the worms but instead just pushed out the other end as nano-plastic poop. Didn’t do much research did you 🤷‍♂

We really shouldn't be surprised that these larvae can break down synthetic polymers that are not very different to beeswax.

Amazing

I used to keep hundreds of wax worms and super worms for my bearded dragons and noticed back then that they easily ate through certain plastics and styrofoam

@Thisisaweirdthing2makeusdo

Жыл бұрын

Yeah the styrofoam was always weird choice of snack but i have seen it too.

@beethao9380

9 ай бұрын

sure sure. you're like the 100th person claiming to have discovered this. shame on you for trying to take the credit away from the scientist.

@heroe1486

9 ай бұрын

​​​@@beethao9380 What do you see here is that would be unbelievable to witness for a random person ? What merit is there to take away ? It's mere observation that doesn't require any expensive or technical setup nor knowledge, just these worms and some plastic

While they are considered a plague to beekeepers, they typically aren't considered a threat to healthier hives, usually just making things worse whenever something else goes wrong like the bees get a virus or mites. On top of that, there are a lot of feral honeybees introduced to many locations in the world causing all kinds of issues, and waxworms harassing them is one of several factors that evens the playing field with other bee species that the waxworm doesn't care about. Personally I'd say that the pros outweigh the cons here and they should be released, at least outside of their native habitat (especially Australia and the Americas, especially South), but I'm also extremely biased against European honeybees for reasons both rational and irrational. Then again, waxworms are already roaming the wilds on their own, following the honeybees wherever they are introduced, so there's not really a point. I'd say that there should be some focus on getting wild waxworms to target plastic more often than they already do, maybe lining plastic bags with beeswax or something.

ed in these things and it makes me so happy to see how far weve come fighting the plastic crisisIve been hearing about this kinda stuff for a while because im so interest

This just restored my hope in humanity❤

Amazing stuff!! Thank you for making this! And a big thank you to all the scientists making it possible!

I am curious to know how plastic eating bacteria would be controlled if it were released in nature. It would suck if food at grocery stores went bad prematurely because the plastic packaging started to rot away, or the parts in a car broke down more quickly. This is really cool though, and assuming the logistical problems could be resolved it be nice to dump that stuff into the ocean and watch all the plastic trash magically vanish.

It's beautiful how the planet came up with a way to counter human's destruction. Go worms!

Wow awesome..

This lady deserves a Nobel Prize.

We can also recycle waste PET Bottles into filaments for 3D printing application. I am researching on it!

Thank you sirs and madams

I love little wax worms they are squishy and cute! My frog also loves eating them! Its nice to know how amazing they are and what they could be capable of

In terms of "upscaling" plastics, I draw the line at anything that I eat or drink. Turning them into fabrics and clothing is something that I would support, but not for food.

@PhoenixAttact

8 ай бұрын

Meh, I wouldn't mind really. It's not like we'd be force to eat it. It would just be another option. Along with vegan labeled food, gluten free, impossible meat, etc. It'll just say plastic-made food and it'll be up to the consumer to buy it or not. Not like it would be the only option for us.

Perhaps nature is stronger than we thought. Such an amazing adaptation. The future may actually be bright.

There was a time 300 million years ago when trees first grew, that the lignin in wood could not be broken down. Then something happened and molds developed that could break down the lignin, plus the massive amounts of wood began to turn into coal.

the idea of it being used as a sub for vanilla is ridiculous, but in medication capsules is cool. the fact that they were able to find this "gold mine" of info is as good as it gets. hurrah!!!

4:18 I love this guy here. And the editor of this video. That sentence's placement and articulation is just perfect.

Their discoveries deserve a Nobel Prize!! I am always concerned about the plastic waste I create daily. There are still so many plastic wastes that would never go through the recycling process. I don't want to leave this planet full of plastic waste to my descendants.

@beethao9380

9 ай бұрын

You have no clue what you're talking about if you still think that plastic wastes go through the recycling process.

@camojoe83

9 ай бұрын

If it was being recycled, you'd have cheap diesel. You don't recycle anything, and your fuel prices are set by the government of other countries. Neat, huh?

@realdragon

6 ай бұрын

@@beethao9380 People will call this shit revolutionary and solution to our problem. The problem isn't that plastic exist but we generate and use more plastic, If we get rid of plastic now we will produce and throw away more. People are too comfortable with life they have now and want simple easy and lazy solution so rather than changing anything they do they would rather to create genetically modified worms (introducing new worms to environment totally won't have any effect /s)

@yudistiraliem135

3 ай бұрын

We found a lot of organism that eat plastics, the main problem is the scale and the economies of things. I have mealworms that eats styrofoam, they can eat it but it’s not good for them. They only eat it when they’re starved and prefer other things and it takes them months to digest one small styrofoam containers. So yeah this is neither new nor breakthrough, the ones that will safe us not just biochemist but also enterpreneur, managers, marketers and accountants.

@TheRestedOne

3 ай бұрын

@@realdragon It is revolutionary and a solution to our problem. You clearly stopped listening after the first minute. Scientists don’t need the worms, they want to synthesize their PETase enzymes. If you were diligent and not engaging in the easy and lazy solution of conplaining on the internet, you would have learned that PET breaks down into MHET and from MHETase into terephtalic acid. Terephtalic acid is a massive component of plastics manufacturing, over 30 million tonnes is in demand per year. The scientist in the clip said it was the “Trillion dollar question.” He’s absolutely right. A PETase recycling plant would rake in fantastic profit, which is the single biggest factor harming that industry: very marginal ROI. Work on your attention span. 2 minutes won’t win you any awards.

In what form is the Carbon released in the end though?

I've been hearing about these worms since i was a little kid And yet nothing has ever happened with it

Interesting, but they are NOT worms, they are caterpillars. Worms have no limbs and move with the help of long or circular muscles, while caterpillars have 5-6 pairs of prolegs for movement. Caterpillars also rely on abdominal muscles for their forward motion.

@0SilentLeopard0

Жыл бұрын

Probably a misconception derived by the their name having "worm" in it.

It’s so good to see so much hope in these comments. I feel like my generation doesn’t have much to hope for, so this is such a huge breath of fresh air.

@BestMods168

3 ай бұрын

🤡 comments by a bunch of people who dont know what they're talking about.

Blessing for Earth

These worms don't completely digest plastic and part of it stays in their crap

Considering that other vanillian can be made from wood pulp, manure, and other things, this isn't too surprising. As someone who recycles everything I can, I'm glad to hear there are other ways in the works to help deal with plastic. Now if we could only figure out how to deal with styrofoam and other things that don't break down as well, but hopefully some day!

@yakzivz1104

Жыл бұрын

this is freaking gross and i don't think that the majority of people are okay with it.

@theplumscrub1627

Жыл бұрын

@@yakzivz1104 It’s the same as recycling water. Even if these things were once gross, like urine for example, when they are changed they don’t retain any of that original grossness. If they did retain that grossness, then all the water in the world would be unclean. (This is just the best example i can give)

@yakzivz1104

Жыл бұрын

@@theplumscrub1627 I still don't want plastic in my darn food. Certain things should not be mixed with food.

@theplumscrub1627

Жыл бұрын

@@yakzivz1104 I don’t want plastic in my food either. That’s why they’re working on figuring out how to break down the plastic and restructure it until it is no longer plastic!

@yakzivz1104

Жыл бұрын

@@theplumscrub1627 Look all these companies have to do is stop making plastic all together. The plastic that is already all over our planet can be eaten by these worms or recycled then eaten by these worms. There is absolutely no reason to reconstitute plastic into our foods- that is not a viable option. We have to stop this madness.

I've been thinking about this recently in terms of microbes and microplastics. We've introduced an entirely new energy source into the ecosystem, on a massive scale. It's only natural that certain creatures able to break it down start to select for this. It's only a matter of time before it's common, eventually we will have a world where plastic can and will rot.

@meoff7602

10 ай бұрын

Yup

This is both pog and champ

To my grandkids: “Let me tell you the story of how worms saved the planet”

I am not sure if this is a good idea, especially when the moth lays her eggs in your car then you find few worms eating your dashboard

@amandamakin1542

Жыл бұрын

Or worse, in an aeroplane, & causes lives to be lost ☹

Hearing something like this just makes me smile😊

This coupled with the research being done to stop cell degradation(aka aging) makes me extremely hopeful for the future. We humans seem to be unstoppable, even from self destruction.

True saviour

I've seen termites doing something similar, I once had a table that was infested with the darn bugs, and when I was going to burn it I opened the drawer and saw a plastic bag I used to store some papers almost disintegrated because under it there were several of the termites munching on the wood, but seems they also took a liking for the bag because they were making paths on it, and seriously it was almost confetti. They didn't touch the papers because they dislike white paper. So after contemplating them having broken down a plastic bag I threw them into the fire.

@ShyRo1466

Жыл бұрын

worms and termites arent the only ones tho , Curculionidae also eat plastic easily

If a worm can make this enzyme, I'm sure a mushroom can do something similar. Fungus always saves the world.

@HABLA_GUIRRRI

Жыл бұрын

eat the plastic urself then

Like the first part not the second with the ice cream stuff.

This is so coooool !!!!!!!

how amazing this has the potential to be!

Nature is truly humble. We screw with it upside down and yet it is the one that gives us solutions to our problems.

@lilarrin1220

Жыл бұрын

Science is the study of nature to figure out how it works, so yes, literally all of our solutions come from nature.

how many things still we don't know ? Nature as always is the best teacher !! but most of the time we do not listen ..I guess plastic problem sooner o later will be solved but still many things to fix in this world.. anyway as usual very nice video !! thank you BBC 🥰

Life finds a way

Nature has always held the keys to innovation. Probably a good idea to look after it...just thinking about the amount of useful medicines obtained from forests.