PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Meet the “plastivore” caterpillars that grow fat from eating plastic

2025-07-08
(Press-News.org) Plastics play a fundamental role in modern life, but their resistance to biodegradation makes them very difficult to dispose of. New research reveals how “plastivore” caterpillars can metabolically degrade plastics in a matter of days, not decades, and store them internally as body fat – but at what cost?

In 2017, a groundbreaking study demonstrated that the caterpillars of the greater wax moth (Galleria mellonella), known as waxworms, can degrade polyethylene plastic. Polyethylene is the world’s most commonly manufactured plastic, with over 100 million tonnes of polyethylene produced globally each year. Polyethylene is chemically resilient, which makes it resistant to decomposition and can take decades or even hundreds of years to fully degrade.

While this plastic degradation process has been demonstrated by waxworms at a small scale, this ongoing research project is helping us to better understand the biological mechanisms at work, the impact of an all-plastic diet on the health of these organisms, and their viability as a sustainable solution to plastic pollution.

“Around 2,000 waxworms can break down an entire polyethylene bag in as little as 24 hours, although we believe that co-supplementation with feeding stimulants like sugars can reduce the number of worms considerably,” says Dr Bryan Cassone, a Professor of Insect Pest and Vector Biology in the Department of Biology at Brandon University, Canada. “However, understanding the biological mechanisms and consequences on fitness associated with plastic biodegradation is key to using waxworms for large-scale plastic remediation.”

Utilising a suite of techniques spanning animal physiology, material science, molecular biology and genomics, Dr Cassone and his team have studied the interesting relationship between waxworms, their bacterial microbiome, and their potential for large-scale plastic biodegradation, as well as the possible impacts on waxworm health and survivability.

This research reveals that waxworms metabolically process the plastics down into lipids and store it as body fat. “This is similar to us eating steak – if we consume too much saturated and unsaturated fat, it becomes stored in adipose tissue as lipid reserves, rather than being used as energy,” says Dr Cassone.

While waxworms will readily consume polyethylene, this research also shows that this ultimately ends in a quick death. “They do not survive more than a few days on a plastic-only diet and they lose considerable mass,” says Dr Cassone. “However, we are optimistic that we can formulate a co-supplementation that not only restores their fitness to natural levels but exceeds it.”

Dr Cassone and his team have identified two ways in which waxworms could contribute solutions to the ongoing plastic pollution crisis. “Firstly, we could mass rear waxworms on a co-supplemented polyethylene diet as part of a circular economy,” he says. “Secondly, we could explore the re-engineering of the plastic biodegradation pathway outside the animal.”

As a bonus benefit, the mass production of waxworms would also generate a substantial surplus of insect biomass, which could represent an additional economic opportunity in aquaculture. “Our preliminary data suggests that they could become part of a very nutritious diet for commercial food fishes,” says Dr Cassone.

This research is being presented at the Society for Experimental Biology Annual Conference in Antwerp, Belgium on the 8th July 2025.

END


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Study identifies postoperative delirium as preventable “acute brain failure” with major health and financial implications

2025-07-08
A new large-scale study spotlights postoperative delirium as a preventable and high-impact complication, which is driven by patient frailty and surgical stress—and one that can be addressed through low-cost, evidence-based interventions. The findings, which appear in JAMA Network Open, provide a call to action for clinicians, health systems, patients, and families to prioritize brain health throughout perioperative care. “Postoperative delirium isn’t a minor complication—it’s analogous to acute brain failure, a medical emergency that should be recognized and addressed,” said Laurent Glance, MD, a professor of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine at ...

Climate change linked to decline in nutritional quality of food

2025-07-08
New preliminary research suggests that a combination of higher atmospheric CO2 and hotter temperatures contribute to a reduction in nutritional quality in food crops, with serious implications for human health and wellbeing. Most research into the impact of climate change on food production has focused on crop yield, but the size of the harvest means little if the nutritional value is poor. “Our work looks beyond quantity to the quality of what we eat,” says Jiata Ugwah Ekele, a PhD student at Liverpool John Moores University, UK. The ongoing effects of climate change are posed ...

Abdominal fat linked to reduced strength and mobility in adults

2025-07-08
“The findings of this study have practical implications for individuals aiming to improve their physical performance and overall health.” BUFFALO, NY — July 8, 2025 — A new research paper was published in Aging (Aging-US) Volume 17, Issue 6, on May 30, 2025, titled “Impact of waist-to-hip and waist-to-height ratios on physical performance: insights from the Longevity Check-up 8+ project.” In this study, researchers led by first author Anna Maria Martone and corresponding author Elena Levati from the Fondazione Policlinico Universitario “Agostino Gemelli” IRCCS and Università ...

Mount Sinai implements Own the Bone® program for fragility fracture patients

2025-07-08
Program provides fracture liaison service to better document, track, and benchmark individualized care New York, NY (July 8, 2025) – The Leni and Peter W. May Department of Orthopedic Surgery at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has implemented the American Orthopaedic Association’s Own the Bone® program, joining more than 300 health care institutions nationwide to help better identify, evaluate, and treat patients who experience an osteoporosis- or low bone density-related fractures. The program brings attention to the severe health implications of fragility fractures (broken ...

Is Earth inside a huge void? 'Sound of the Big Bang' hints at possible solution to Hubble tension

2025-07-08
Earth and our entire Milky Way galaxy may sit inside a mysterious giant hole which makes the cosmos expand faster here than in neighbouring regions of the universe, astronomers say. Their theory is a potential solution to the 'Hubble tension' and could help confirm the true age of our universe, which is estimated to be around 13.8 billion years old. The latest research – shared at the Royal Astronomical Society’s National Astronomy Meeting (NAM) in Durham – shows that sound waves from the early universe, "essentially the sound of the Big Bang", support this idea. The Hubble constant was ...

When stem cells feel the squeeze, they start building bone

2025-07-08
In a discovery that could reshape approaches to regenerative medicine and bone repair, researchers have found that human stem cells can be prompted to begin turning into bone cells simply by squeezing through narrow spaces. The study suggests that the physical act of moving through tight, confining spaces, like those between tissues, can influence how stem cells develop. This could open new possibilities for engineering materials and therapies by guiding cell behaviour using physical, rather than chemical, ...

Revealing Myanmar earthquake as a unique event comprising multiple sub-events, including boomerang-like reverse rupture propagation and supershear rupture

2025-07-08
Tsukuba, Japan—On March 28, 2025, a major earthquake with a moment magnitude (Mw) of 7.7 struck Mandalay, central Myanmar (referred to as the 2025 Myanmar earthquake). This event caused severe shaking and substantial damage in Myanmar and neighboring countries. Aftershock distribution extended southward from the epicenter, indicating predominant southward rupture propagation. In such cases, a Doppler-like directivity effect usually results in sharp, high-amplitude pulse waveforms recorded in the rupture propagation direction (south of the epicenter in ...

AI helps radiologists spot more lesions in mammograms

2025-07-08
OAK BROOK, Ill. – Artificial intelligence (AI) improves breast cancer detection accuracy for radiologists when reading screening mammograms, helping them devote more of their attention to suspicious areas, according to a study published today in Radiology, a journal of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). Previous research has shown that AI for decision support improves radiologist performance by increasing sensitivity for cancer detection without extending reading time. However, the impact of AI on radiologists’ visual search patterns remains underexplored. To learn more, researchers used an eye ...

Efficient elastic tissues may hold the secrets to Olympic success

2025-07-08
New research into the muscles of world-class athletes and performance artists has revealed that a small number of “general motor skills” raise these experts above regional-level and novice competitors, with interesting implications for competitive sport and musculoskeletal health. Contrary to the belief that athletic motor skills are highly specific to individual sports or activities, this research has found that previously unexamined fundamental traits are associated with world-class performance across a range of athletic disciplines. “We discovered that world-class ...

Does exercise really improve mental health?

2025-07-08
Research often points to exercise as a good way to boost mental health, but a recent study from the University of Georgia suggests that it’s not just physical movement that affects mental health. It’s how, where and why you exercise that makes the difference. “Historically, physical activity research has focused on how long someone exercises for or how many calories were burned,” said Patrick O’Connor, co-author of the study and a professor in the Mary ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Eliminating invasive rats may restore the flow of nutrients across food chain networks in Seychelles

World’s first: Lithuanian scientists’ discovery may transform OLED technology and explosives detection

Rice researchers develop superstrong, eco-friendly materials from bacteria

Itani studying translation potential of secure & efficient software updates in industrial internet of things architectures

Elucidating the source process of the 2021 south sandwich islands tsunami earthquake

Zhu studying use of big data in verification of route choice models

Common autoimmune drug may help reverse immunotherapy-induced diabetes, UCLA study finds

Quantum battery device lasts much longer than previous demonstrations

Gamma knife stereotactic radiosurgery for brain metastases from ovarian cancer

Meet the “plastivore” caterpillars that grow fat from eating plastic

Study identifies postoperative delirium as preventable “acute brain failure” with major health and financial implications

Climate change linked to decline in nutritional quality of food

Abdominal fat linked to reduced strength and mobility in adults

Mount Sinai implements Own the Bone® program for fragility fracture patients

Is Earth inside a huge void? 'Sound of the Big Bang' hints at possible solution to Hubble tension

When stem cells feel the squeeze, they start building bone

Revealing Myanmar earthquake as a unique event comprising multiple sub-events, including boomerang-like reverse rupture propagation and supershear rupture

AI helps radiologists spot more lesions in mammograms

Efficient elastic tissues may hold the secrets to Olympic success

Does exercise really improve mental health?

Behind the ballistics of the “explosive” squirting cucumber

Researchers find compound that inhibits cutaneous HPVs

City of Hope Research Spotlight, April/May 2025

The gut microbiota in elderly patients with acute hepatitis E infection

The Three Gorges region of the Yangtze River hits record high temperatures in 2024

Experts urge evidence-based regulations of 7-OH, not restriction, as new science emerges showing safe use

Genes for surviving plague in prairie dogs

New research shows AI chatbots should not replace your therapist

Pusan National University researchers reveal middle-class families hit hardest by South Korea's cost-of-living crisis

Understanding how heat stress reshapes fat metabolism in chickens

[Press-News.org] Meet the “plastivore” caterpillars that grow fat from eating plastic