Quarter 3 came to an end today, and we just had our last MARC class at MA until senior projects. This quarter I did not get as much done as I had hoped, but I definitely made some good progress. In the past couple of months, I took another crack at the introduction, wrote a draft of the methodology, and began my data analysis. Over spring break I will begin identifying trends in the data and try to find what the results really support. I suspect that my hypothesis will be correct and that several mealworms out/underperformed the rest and that one ratio of tomato to wine pomace provided the best food source for the larvae to consume and gain weight from. Once I have an idea about my results, I will really be able to tie my whole paper together by creating more graphs and figures, and writing up the final sections. Hopefully I will be ready to submit for publication at the end of Senior Projects!

In 2015, the European Union defined insects as "food." Although you may gag thinking about eating insects, the idea really isn't very strange or novel. Ancient people used to rely on insects as a source of protein during times of year when hunting other game was difficult. Even today with protein powder, many cultures still consider crickets and grasshoppers a high protein snack. Since 2015, studies on mealworms as a food source have gone way up, and the research all points to one thing: Mealworms should be added to your dinner plate. Meal worms and other insects can turn low calorie feeds into high protein body mass. Moreover, they don't put the same amount of stress on the environment as livestock such as cows, which are a major contributor to global warming. Mealworms especially can deliver essential amino acids that the human body is incapable of producing on its own. The article also suggests that more research is necessary to establish health standards for this new food source as well as how to educate populations to accept insects as food. Good luck with that.

Article Link: 10.3390/agriculture10060233

This week I started thinking about graphical abstracts. Graphical abstracts are relatively new to scientific journals (last decade or so) and are basically a single infographic that sums up the key findings of the article. What I really like about this feature is that it pairs well with the written abstract by providing a visual aid. Especially for visual learners like myself, this addition can help potential reader identify whether or not the article is relevant to them. The first steps in creating a graphical abstract for my paper would be to analyze my results and run some statistics and then decide how to represent my results visually. I could use a graph or an image or a combination of both. So, something to think about.

I found an article about artificial bioconversion of carbon dioxide. For one thing, I was intrigued by the term "artificial bioconversion" which seems to be an oxymoron. Anyway, according to this article, scientists could simulate the process of photosynthesis to capture carbon dioxide from the air and convert it into oxygen and carbon molecules. This specific article focuses on the future of such a process and the developments that need to be made to make it a reality. For example, carbon dioxide is a pretty stable molecule and requires lots of energy to separate the atoms. It also suggests that the best way to move forward would be to more closely study and understand the variety of carbon sequestering organisms and their metabolic pathways to essentially combine the most efficient features of different microorganisms into one artificial bionverter that can turn CO2 into target products. Here is the link to the full article: 10.1016/S1872-2067(19)63408-X

This week I continued to work on my methodology. As I read through the methods of other papers similar to mine, I noticed that the vast majority of authors split up the methods into subsections. The benefit of this format is that it is much easier to refer back to for the reader or someone trying to replicate the study. So now I just have to think about what to title my subsections as I split them up.

Mealworms Eat Tires

This week I discovered an article about the biodegradation of SBR and tire crumb rubber by mealworms. As you may know, used tires take over 100 years to degrade and often harm the environment and the health of the surrounding population during this process. The solution: Recycling. However, tires are vulcanized , often with sulfur, to make the rubber harder and more durable, and to recycle the tires properly, this sulfur has to be removed. In this study, mealworms were fed ground tire crumbs and were able to survive for 21 days with no other food sources. In other words, mealworms can survive by eating rubber. And while mealworms ate the rubber, the sulfur was naturally separated. Mealworms could be the natural utility needed to devulcanize rubber and repurpose the millions of tires polluting the planet. To read the entire paper, click here.

Quarter 1 of my senior year has ended. I will not have designated MARC class next quarter, but I will still find time to write. By the end of next quarter I hope to have a final draft of my introduction and at least a rough draft of the methodology but hopefully a final draft. Next week I don't have any classes, so I plan on finalizing my introduction draft, sending it to Stori, making some edits, and then sending it off to Christian. The intro has definitely come a long way since the first version I wrote last spring, and my scientific writing skills have definitely evolved as well. That being said, I think I still have lots of work to do to create a publishable introduction.

Due to the Covid-19 and school closure, I have not been able to do any lab work or start the second trial of my study. Instead, I have been working on my introduction and trying to take advantage of all the down time.