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Scientists in Kenya team up with mealworms to help solve the plastic problem in Africa

An insect solution for pollution?

Photo credit: Canva

Plastic pollution is a huge global issue.

A scientific discovery could potentially be a breakthrough for Africa’s landfills. Scientists have discovered that a Kenyan mealworm species has the ability to eat and digest polystyrene—better known to most of us as styrofoam.

Researchers at the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology conducted a month-long study that found that the stomach bacteria within the larvae of Alphitobius darkling beetles can adapt their enzymes to break down styrofoam. These mealworms not only can digest it, but seem to grow an appetite for the plastic, too. While they cannot get their fullest nutrition on styrofoam alone, the mealworms were able to ingest hydrogen and carbon from it through digestion. These mealworms are commonly found as pests in chicken coops and poultry production facilities, so there’s no worry of a worm shortage.

Styrofoam is widely used for food containers, shipping materials, insulation, electronics, and many other products. While it is incredibly useful, it’s also piling up in our landfills since there is no way for it to degrade or decompose naturally like organic garbage and other material. Properly recycling styrofoam also has its drawbacks, as it is expensive to process and produces other pollutants.

While these plastics are a problem globally, they’re especially an issue in Africa. The region is predicted to amass 116 million tonnes of plastic waste by 2060. According to the charity Tearfund, enough plastic waste to cover a soccer field is tossed or burned in sub-Saharan Africa every minute. It’s theorized that this Kenyan mealworm’s adaptation was due to the amount of styrofoam that has invaded their local environments. The hope is that this discovery can help its native continent first then possibly expand application worldwide.

Now before you think that the solution is to just have millions of these mealworms unleashed into landfills to feast on our trash, the scientists involved are continuing their research. One of the next steps is to study the bacteria in the hope to obtain, recreate, and distribute the bacteria and enzymes on their own. They also plan on trying to see if these mealworms could digest other plastics and, if so, if they can remain healthy. Should the positive momentum continue, this wouldn’t just help the environment in Africa but could provide global applications in how we dispose of our plastic trash.

Science is a funny thing. We like to champion it yet underestimate it at the same time. Federal funding for scientific research is at historic lows and the average American seems skeptical towards scientific studies in general. Understandably, many everyday people would think less about studying bugs since there’s no apparent human benefit or application towards larger issues compared to those studying how to make various rockets, vehicles, or other technology. Yet now it seems like studying something very small and insignificant like a mealworm could help preserve our planet in the long term.

It’s the perfect example of how investment, patience, and study could lead to surprising solutions that never would’ve been considered otherwise, even if it seems unimportant on the surface. On top of that, it shows how every living thing plays a role in our Earth’s preservation. Even tiny, squiggly mealworms.

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Planet

Shark Week host Forrest Galante is helping change hearts and minds about nature's most feared predator

Forrest Galante will never forget the first time he ever saw a shark in person. "I was 7 or 8 years old and was snorkeling with my grandfather," the outdoor adventure TV personality told Upworthy. "We were in Mozambique where I grew up and I was holding my grandfather's hand underwater as he guided me. It was a small reef shark. What seemed like this huge animal appeared out of nowhere, racing through the darkness and suddenly I was looking into its beautiful eyes. I was in awe but I also think I grabbed my granddad's hand just a little bit tighter."

25 years later, Galante, is a world-renowned conversation activist who hosts the Extinct or Alive program on Animal Planet. He has interacted with some of the planet's most intriguing and intimidating creatures but it's hard to think of a living creature that has more powerfully captured our collective imagination than sharks.

This year, Galante is hosting his schedule special as part of the legendary Shark Week series. In tonight's episode, Galante travels to the northeast coast of South Africa, the "Land of the Lost Sharks," where he looks to find the Pondicherry, a species of shark believed to have gone extinct decades ago.




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On exploring the remove Maldives beach, where it's believed most wildlife there has never interacted with humans:

"It's phenomenal. It's like getting into a time capsule. Must as I love Tiger Beach in the Bahamas, the sharks there see divers 10 times a day. Here, you're seeing what the ocean was like hundreds of years ago. Before there was plastic floating on it. You really experience this feeling that anything can happen."

On being part of the Shark Week legacy:

"It's fantastic. The series is literally the same age as I am, 32. I have grown up with Shark Week. It's something I've tuned in for literally my entire life. It's kind of the Super Bowl of wildlife shows on television. Although I'd argue it's much bigger than the Super Bowl because we're talking about creatures who are literally older than trees themselves and are now being pushed to the brink of extinction."

With most people stuck at home and looking for content that transports their imaginations out of the living room, what's different about Shark Week this year?

"This style of entertainment is arguably more important than ever. It allows people who are stuck on their couch to participate in and promote conservation. It's also harder than ever. I was supposed to be in 14 counties this year and instead, I've been to 2. I think a common misconception is that the coronavirus has been entirely beneficial for wildlife. In reality, it's a double-edged sword. In some cases, wildlife is thriving. On the flip side, with governments being shut down and nobody able to enforce anti-poaching, we're seeing a massive uptick. In Peru, you can go to a wet market to buy a yellow-footed tortoise to "cure" coronavirus. So, I think part of what's important about Shark Week this year, beyond entertainment, is reminding people of how precious this environment is."



What's different to you about sharks vs. other wildlife you've interacted with?

"Life is incredible. Whether it's a snail under a rock or a tiger shark swimming at you. We're bipedal creatures meant to be on land. You have a lot of control there, you're in a comfort zone. When you're in the water, you're living in an alien world. You're in their habitat. It's a three-dimensional space where we don't belong. Sharks always bring a thrill to working with them. They're an apex predator, they've been around a long time. At the same time, they're disappearing. They've been targeted at an incredibly alarming rate."

Everyone talks about the negative impact "Jaws" had on people's attitudes toward sharks. With things like Shark Week, have you seen any positive changes in people's perception of sharks?

"20 years ago, the perception was if you got in the water with a shark the thought was you're going to die. Now, there's a cool factor. On places like Instagram, there are bragging rights to working with the animals, going in the water with them. The common understanding has completely shifted. All these people having beautiful, stunning interactions with these creatures. Fear will only lead to destruction. Sharks aren't meant to be feared, they're just to be respected."

Heroes

This chemotherapy-free treatment could be a breakthrough in the fight against cancer.

Cancer. Just saying the word on its own can be scary, especially if you've ever lost a loved one to the disease or if you've faced it yourself.

And a big reason for that has to do with one of its common treatments — chemotherapy — which causes intense side effects like hair loss, nausea, and weakened immune systems. (And that's when it works!)

But a new breakthrough treatment cured cancerous tumors in 97% of mice during recent trials at Stanford University. Now researchers are soliciting around 35 human patients for tests that are expected to begin before the end of 2018.

Unlike other cancer treatments, this immune-system-based approach is potentially low-impact, avoiding chemotherapy altogether.

"The thing to understand is how much of a game changer this is," said Dr. Michelle Hermiston, director of pediatric immunotherapy at the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center, the first hospital in the state to implement a different immunotherapy treatment for lymphoma and leukemia patients. "If it's your kid, it makes a huge difference," she said.

Dr. Ronald Levy, a Stanford oncology professor who is leading the study, said that if the Food and Drug Administration approves the treatment after human trials, it could appear on the market within one to two years.

This chemotherapy-free treatment uses the body's own immune system to fight cancer cells.

Levy says the treatment is not a permanent cure, but it uses the body's defense mechanisms to attack certain types of cancer cells.

It works by using an injection that stimulates the body's T cells to attack tumors. Levy also said the current treatment is not a magic bullet for all types of cancers because different cancer cells behave differently. For this study, he and his team are focusing on people with low-grade lymphoma.

"Getting the immune system to fight cancer is one of the most recent developments in cancer," he said. "People need to know that this is in its early days, and we are still looking for safety and looking to make this as good as it can be."

In an era of bad news, scientists have reminded us how to be hopeful.

An estimated 7.6 million people die from cancer each year. More than 70,000 people are diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma each year, and while survival rates are relatively high, any progress on that front is great news. And during a time when our world can often feel overwhelmed with bad news, it's a welcome reminder that scientific progress continues to march forward.

This week alone, scientists announced the discovery of an entirely new organ in the human body, a development that could fundamentally alter our understanding of how diseases like cancer quickly spread to other parts of the body.

If we pay attention, science is bringing us good news practically every day with amazing progress in medicine, technology, exploration, and a greater understanding of human nature itself.

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These eerie sounds collected from the universe are a Halloween delight.

Werewolf cries in the night may be scary here on Earth, but the sound of howling planets (!) shrieking into the black abyss of space? Now that'll make your skin crawl.

Just in time for Halloween, NASA has compiled a handful of spooky sounds it's discovered on its many missions through outer space. The terrifying tunes, collected in a 22-track SoundCloud playlist, are (literally) out of this world.

An image of Saturn taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft in 2002. Photo by NASA/Getty Images.

While you wouldn't technically hear these sounds floating through the solar system all on your own — remember, in space, no one can hear you scream — NASA created the playlist by converting radio emissions from its voyages into sound waves.

"The results are eerie to hear," according to the agency. And they're definitely not wrong.

These ghostly rumbles coming from Saturn are straight-up nightmare fuel, to be honest.

These unnerving soundbites were picked up while NASA's Cassini spacecraft orbited the planet and its ominous rings. Cassini launched in 1997 and, having just completed its final mission, took a farewell dive into Saturn's atmosphere on Sept. 15, 2017, never to be seen or heard from again.  

FYI, the spooky static noises emitted from Jupiter's largest moon, Ganymede, sound like a flock of ghost birds trying to communicate through a TV screen.

Jupiter is one spooktacular place, people (and ghosts and goblins). NASA's Juno spacecraft, tasked with observing the massive fifth planet from our sun, has discovered other sinister sounds while venturing around its orbit too; among them, the bone-chilling audio illustrating Jupiter's supersonic solar wind heating and slowing by the planet's magnetosphere: the "roar of Jupiter."

No joke, these menacing, high-pitched thuds picked up by Kepler could be the soundtrack to a new Michael Myers film.

You know, for the moment right before he starts stabbing.

The Kepler mission explores other solar systems in our neck of the Milky Way galaxy in hopes of spotting other Earth-like planets resting in their star's habitable zones (where liquid water could exist). After all, there's a really good chance we're not alone out there.  (*shivers run down spine*)

The entire Halloween playlist is worth a listen.

It might be useful too. Need a last-minute soundtrack to play on repeat in your community's haunted house? Or maybe just some eerie tunes to welcome the trick-or-treaters to your front porch? Either way, NASA has reminded listeners that while, yes, science is fascinating, important, and useful, it can also be downright spooky too.

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