Science Stories with Joe Johnson

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From plastic-eating caterpillars to mysterious lights above thunderstorms and dazzling summer meteor showers, Joe Johnson, Radio Catskill’s resident science guy, unpacked some of nature’s strangest and most fascinating phenomena this week.

Plastic-Eating Waxworms: Nature’s Unlikely Solution to Pollution?
Plastic pollution is choking oceans and landfills worldwide—but help might come from an unlikely source: the waxworm.

At last week’s Society for Experimental Biology conference, researchers revealed that the larvae of the wax moth—commonly sold as bait for ice fishing—can digest polyethylene, one of the world’s most common plastics.

Johnson explained the discovery began in 2017 when a Spanish biologist and beekeeper placed waxworms in a plastic bag and returned an hour later to find it full of holes. “The worms, which naturally consume beeswax inside beehives, had begun eating the plastic,” Johnson said. The reason? Both beeswax and plastic are polymers, meaning they’re made up of long chains of repeating molecules.

Evolution has equipped waxworms with specialized enzymes and metabolic pathways that allow them to break down beeswax. Researchers have now found those same enzymes—present in the worms’ saliva and digestive tract—can break polyethylene down into lipids: fats and oils that the worms store as body fat.

But there’s a catch. “A pure diet of plastic kills the worms in just a few days,” Johnson noted. Scientists are now exploring ways to supplement the worms’ diet to help them safely consume plastics. If successful, waxworms could potentially be raised on a plastic-containing diet to help reduce landfill waste. After feeding on plastic, the worms themselves could serve as food for aquaculture or livestock.

“Alternatively, scientists might be able to mimic the worms’ chemical processes and develop industrial-scale solutions for breaking down plastic waste,” Johnson said.

Red Sprites: Rarely Photographed Weather Phenomenon
Shifting from earth to sky, Johnson also discussed a breathtaking image recently shared by astronaut Nicole Ayers from the International Space Station. The photograph shows a rare weather phenomenon known as a red sprite: a glowing, jellyfish-like flash of red and purple light stretching above a thunderstorm over the U.S.-Mexico border.

“Sprites are upward electrical discharges that occur high above thunderclouds, in the mesosphere and ionosphere,” Johnson said. Known collectively as Transient Luminous Events, or TLEs, red sprites were only first photographed in 1989. They typically last just milliseconds and are notoriously difficult to capture on camera.

Sprites aren’t the only strange lights haunting stormy skies. Johnson noted scientists have also identified blue jets, elves, trolls, pixies, and even ‘ghosts’—most of which are based on scientific acronyms, despite their whimsical names.

As thunderstorms grow more powerful with climate change, Johnson said it’s likely sightings of these transient luminous events will increase.

Look Up: Summer Meteor Showers Light Up Catskills Skies
Johnson urged local residents to spend some late nights outdoors this summer to catch two upcoming meteor showers.

Alpha Capricornids will peak on July 29th into the morning of July 30th, known for their bright fireballs—meteors that blaze dramatically as they fall through the lower atmosphere. Viewers can expect 5 to 10 meteors per hour, though occasional bursts may surprise watchers.

Perseids, perhaps the most popular meteor shower of the year, will peak between August 12th and 13th, with as many as 100 meteors per hour possible at its peak. Caused by debris from comet Swift-Tuttle, the Perseids are best viewed after midnight in the northeastern sky.

“The darker your surroundings, the better,” Johnson advised. “Let your eyes adjust to the dark and avoid looking at your phone. A good astronomy app with red-light mode can help you find the best viewing direction.”

Though moonlight from a waning gibbous moon may interfere with the Perseids this year, Johnson said the show should still be well worth watching.

Image: NASA astronaut Nichole Ayers captured an amazing image of a sprite, a rarely photographed weather phenomenon, as the International Space Station passed above a storm over Mexico. (Credit: Nichole Ayers/NASA)