Are you interested in science? How do you think scientists usually make new discoveries? The world produces millions of Ions of plastic wastes every year. What do you think the best way to deal with plastic pollution is? Why?
Caterpillars(毛虫)are often used as food for fishing. However, they are now set to join the war on plastic wastes.
Fcderical Bcrtocchini is a scientist with the Spanish National Research Council. When she's not working in her lab, Bcrtocchini keeps bees. One day, when she looked at her beehives(蜂箱),she found lots of caterpillars which were called waxworms(蜡虫). They are often used to feed fish. In the wild, however, they live in beehives, feeding on the wax that bees use to build their houses. Bcrtocchini picked out the caterpillars and put them in a plastic bag. Surprisingly, when she returned to the bag after cleaning out the hives, she (bund it fill! of holes. The worms had eaten their way out.
Bcrtocchini doesn't study plastic. However, you can't keep a good scientist away from an interesting question: Were the waxworms digesting(消化)the plastic?
Bertocchini got in touch with Paolo Bombeli and Christopher Howe at the university of Cambridge. According to their paper, some chemicals within the insects can really break down plastic.
Other scientists have also discovered plastic-eating species(物种). In 2016, for example, a Japanese team found a bacterium(细菌). The bacterium has to spend more than six months eating a layer (层)of plastic bag. However, Bertocchini and her partners discovered that it took a waxworm about 12 hours to eat a layer of plastic bag.
Butthe scientists reminded that it would be at least several years before they set free waxworms into the environment. They want to know if the waxworms are using the plastic as a food, or just they want to run away. If they just want to run away they are going to get fed very soon. But if they want to eat it as food, it's a completely different game.
"It's certainly not going to be the case that within six months we've solved the world's plastic problem, said Howe. "I wouldn't want people to think that within a few months, they can start throwing away plastic bags without worrying about it. "