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from the I-know-an-old-lady-who-swallowed-a-fly dept.
Mealworms safely consume toxic additive-containing plastic:
Tiny mealworms may hold part of the solution to our giant plastics problem. Not only are they able to consume various forms of plastic, as previous Stanford research has shown, they can eat Styrofoam containing a common toxic chemical additive and still be safely used as protein-rich feedstock for other animals, according to a new Stanford study published in Environmental Science & Technology.
The study is the first to look at where chemicals in plastic end up after being broken down in a natural system -- a yellow mealworm's gut, in this case. It serves as a proof of concept for deriving value from plastic waste.
"This is definitely not what we expected to see," said study lead author Anja Malawi Brandon, a PhD candidate in civil and environmental engineering at Stanford. "It's amazing that mealworms can eat a chemical additive without it building up in their body over time."
In earlier work, Stanford researchers and collaborators at other institutions revealed that mealworms, which are easy to cultivate and widely used as a food for animals ranging from chickens and snakes to fish and shrimp, can subsist on a diet of various types of plastic. They found that microorganisms in the worms' guts biodegrade the plastic in the process -- a surprising and hopeful finding. However, concern remained about whether it was safe to use the plastic-eating mealworms as feed for other animals given the possibility that harmful chemicals in plastic additives might accumulate in the worms over time.
"This work provides an answer to many people who asked us whether it is safe to feed animals with mealworms that ate Styrofoam," said Wei-Min Wu, a senior research engineer in Stanford's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering who has led or co-authored most of the Stanford studies of plastic-eating mealworms.
[...] "This is a wake-up call," said Brandon. "It reminds us that we need to think about what we're adding to our plastics and how we deal with it."
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 03 2020, @06:27AM (5 children)
Reminder that you're defending an autistic teenager that has zero training in climate science and is only being used by cynics that thought 'hey, no one will dare attack an autistic kid, lets use her as our ambassador'. Meanwhile, a crew had to be flown in to take her boat home negating any green benefits of her voyage. If you want to rage at someone rage at her parents and or handlers that would dare abuse a child in this manor. This poor kid has been convinced that she's going to die in 12 years because of climate change. Stow the misogyny crap, there was nothing misogynist in the post you replied to, it's all in your head. I'm old, I've been hearing this 'world is going to end in 10 years' crap for 50 years. I'll close by saying how dare you! https://ricochet.com/678974/climate-hysteria-is-harming-our-kids/ [ricochet.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 03 2020, @06:36AM (1 child)
This manor is different from the boat home, right?
Feels like there's a captivating Dickensian story behind these different places, with poor children and exploiting characters and weird Uriah Heep-like names... Do tell.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Friday January 03 2020, @04:07PM
When all else fails, pick grammatical nits and dance around flashing the V sign like you totally won the argument, right?
Jesus, why are leftist dittoheads such one-trick ponies?
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Friday January 03 2020, @06:43PM (1 child)
Yeah, 'cause teenagers are never outspoken about their beliefs on their own!
(Score: 2) by rleigh on Saturday January 04 2020, @01:52PM
As much as we might like to believe we all hold our own opinions, the reality is that all of us have opinions based upon our experiences of the world and interaction with the people around us, the media and our education. Very little of our own opinions originate within ourselves, they are acquired. As I've matured and had two decades working, getting a PhD, and learning more about the world, I'd like to think that I now have better judgement and knowledge than I did when I was Thunberg's age. But even with a science PhD and with plenty of reading under my belt, I still wouldn't presume to be an expert on the science of climate change.
When it comes to a teenager preaching a certain message, they haven't had the life experiences or tertiary education or career experience or extensive reading and study necessary to hold an informed, rational and objective view. They are parroting what someone else has told them, or they picked up somewhere. Then it becomes only natural to wonder who, behind the scenes, is using them as a tool to advance their own agenda. I don't think using a vulnerable child in this way is reasonable. If they want to promote rational, evidence-based discussion, then it should be judged objectively on its own merits, not because of who the messenger is.
None of that is to say I don't think climate change is an unimportant issue. It may very well be the most important issue of our lifetimes. However, the world isn't black and white, and I don't think reactionary scaremongering is an effective way to initiate needed change. We're dealing with changes which take effect on timescales many times a human lifespan, and humanity isn't really that good at planning and executing in a coordinated fashion on these sorts of timescales. We might well need to take action, but we need to really understand the problem. Every little disaster gets blamed on climate change, but the media and the activists rarely distinguish between short-term fluctuations and long-term slow change. They claimed we would have massive sea rises for decades, yet it's only increasing slowly. Will it happen suddenly, or is it a lot of hot air? It's unknown, but they are claiming it as a certainty. Are recent temperature changes a long-term shift, or a slow oscillation on a cycle measured in centuries? Here in the UK, we know that the temperature has historically been both much higher and much lower. What's the real story?
In case it wasn't clear, I don't know the answer or pretend to fully understand the problem. However, I would be very interested in more data, more science, and better understanding, and have that be properly disseminated in both the classroom and the media. A random barely-educated teenager is bringing absolutely nothing to the table. It doesn't matter how "passionate" their are about their "cause", that lack of objectivity taints them as extremists.
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday January 04 2020, @11:32PM
Reminder that she's still right, and that the message doesn't become wrong if you don't like the package that it's delivered in. Eatcher liver'n' die mad.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...