Video: Earth's little garbage people?

Earth's little garbage people? (video)
Credit: The American Chemical Society

If you're enjoying some tasty food today that has at least one ingredient that was farmed somewhere, you probably owe a little thanks to earthworms.

How is it that these detritivores - literally dirt eaters - turn what humans find inedible into beloved compost?

After the biology and physics of swallowing and "chewing", like us it's all chemistry for digestion.

But earthworms have an extra enzyme that allows them to munch through cellulose, the ultimate fiber that makes tree bark a non-starter in .

Yet all this powerful chemistry means not everyone sees earthworms as the greatest creature to crawl - find out all the dirt in the latest Reactions video here:

Citation: Video: Earth's little garbage people? (2017, April 19) retrieved 29 March 2024 from https://phys.org/news/2017-04-video-earth-garbage-people.html
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