Could Superworms Be The Answer To Our Plastic Crisis? | Taking A Closer Look At Microbial Research

In this episode, we connect with Dr. Chris Rinke, an ARC Future Fellow, and Senior Lecturer at the Australian Centre for Ecogenomics (ACE), University of Queensland, Australia. He joins us today to discuss a very interesting topic: plastic-eating superworms.

Dr. Rinke’s research centers around microbial biology – specifically looking into the metabolic diversity of uncultured microbes and how they contribute to bacterial plastic degradation. How could this area of investigation affect our problems surrounding plastic pollution? Dr. Rinke is determined to find out…

Jump in now to uncover:

1) The fundamental roles that microbes play in everyday life.
2) What superworms are, and how they can survive eating only plastic.
3) Which enzymes are involved in breaking down polystyrene.

Click https://researchers.uq.edu.au/researcher/11449 to learn more about Dr. Rinke and his work!

Episode also available on Apple Podcast: http://apple.co/30PvU9C