How Do Worms Turn Garbage into Compost?

This week Reactions dug our hands into some earthworm science. Some pretty useful chemistry comes out of these little critters in the form of compost. 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 of that makes tree bark a non-starter in human diets. Yet all this powerful chemistry means not everyone sees earthworms as the greatest creature to crawl – find out all the dirt in this video. Find us on all these places: Subscribe! http://bit.ly/ACSReactions Facebook! http://facebook.com/ACSReactions Twitter! http://twitter.com/ACSReactions Tumblr! http://tumblr.com/ACSReactions Writer: Sam Lemonick Narrator/Scientific Consultant/Co-writer: Darcy Gentleman, Ph.D. Scientific Consultant: Kyle Nackers Executive Producer: Adam Dylewski Video Producer: Sean Parsons Music: Bomba_Pa_Siempre Cumbia_No_Frills_Faster Walk_the_Dog Walk_With_Me Sources: http://jeb.biologists.org/content/13/3/279 http://web.uvic.ca/~cpc/reprints/Constabel%26Barbehenn2008.pdf http://cen.acs.org/articles/93/i32/Protecting-Earthworm-Guts.html https://naldc.nal.usda.gov/download/35483/PDF https://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/Bacteria_and_earthworms http://extension.psu.edu/plants/crops/soil-management/soil-quality/earthworms http://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms8869 https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detailfull/soils/health/biology/?cid=nrcs142p2_053863 Calcium secretion https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4441739/#CR35 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0883292711001119 this last reference, published in 2011, contains the line “ The function 16 that these granules serve for the earthworm is unknown (Darwin, 1881; Robertson, 1936; 17 Piearce, 1972; Briones et al., 2008) but previous studies have shown that earthworm granules 18 are commonplace in soils (Ponomareva, 1948; Wiecek and Messenger, 1972; Bal, 1977; 19 Canti, 1998)” (preprint pdf [?] here Megadrile biological classification http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/92582089/major-megadrile-families-world-reviewed-again-their-taxonomic-types-annelida-oligochaeta-megadrilacea https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/megadrile Nitrogen cycle to understand bacteria role https://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/Nitrogen_cycle_including_GHG Ever wonder why dogs sniff each others' butts? Or how Adderall works? Or whether it's OK to pee in the pool? We've got you covered: Reactions a web series about the chemistry that surrounds you every day. Reactions is produced by the American Chemical Society.