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How Do Worms Turn Garbage into Compost?
Season 4
Episode 10
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.
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