Enzymes in the saliva of the wax worm have been found to speed up the time it takes polyethylene to degrade from decades to a matter of hours.
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Spanish researchers have found that chemicals in the saliva of the wax worm can break down polyethylene, a particularly hard-wearing material.to the creature's saliva caused it to degrade as much in a single hour as several years worth of normal exposure to the elements. The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, discovered that two enzymes in the worm's saliva - which it uses to break down the wax - also break down the plastic.
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