'Superworms' help scientists with a vexing task: Cleaning animal specimens
Researchers in Iran are using 'superworms' (Zophobas morio) to clean animal skeletons for museum exhibits. This method is presented as a safer and more effective alternative to chemical treatments or other insects that might damage delicate specimens.
Why it matters
This discovery offers a sustainable and efficient biological solution for natural history museums struggling with the preservation and preparation of animal specimens.
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In the city of Mashhad in northeast Iran, there's a natural history museum associated with local Ferdowsi University that gets all manner of donations, including animals that died in the road and injured birds.
With all these specimens pouring in, the research team quickly ran out of space.
"We don't have enough freezers to put these dead animals," says Niloofar Alaei Kakhki , a bioinformatician who's studied and worked there. "We have to find a way to clean them," she adds, so that these animals' skeletons can be studied and exhibited.
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