Previous research found that insects can ingest and absorb pure, unrefined microplastics—but only under unrealistic, food-scarce situations. In a new Biology Letters paper, UBC zoologist Dr. Michelle Tseng and alumna Shim Gicole tested mealworms in a more realistic scenario, feeding them ground-up face masks—a common plastic product—mixed with bran, a tastier option. After 30 days, the research team found the mealworms ate about half the microplastics available, about 150 particles per insect, and gained weight. They excreted a small fraction of the microplastics consumed, about four to six particles per milligram of waste, absorbing the rest. Eating microplastics did not appear to affect the insects’ survival and growth.

An analysis of fungi collected from peat bogs has identified several species that produce substances toxic to the bacterium that causes the human disease tuberculosis. The findings suggest that one promising direction for development of better treatments might be to target biological processes in the bacterium that help maintain levels of compounds known as thiols. Neha Malhotra of the National Institutes of Health, U.S., and colleagues present these findings December 3^rd in the open-access journal PLOS Biology.