1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:06,480 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey 2 00:00:06,519 --> 00:00:10,040 Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren vogel Bomb Here. Chances are that, you, 3 00:00:10,440 --> 00:00:13,080 Speaker 1: like me, have spent the better part of your sentient 4 00:00:13,200 --> 00:00:16,759 Speaker 1: life assuming that maggots are gross and a lot of 5 00:00:16,760 --> 00:00:19,640 Speaker 1: the mare due to their intolerable habit of eating rotting 6 00:00:19,640 --> 00:00:23,239 Speaker 1: flesh and feces. But have you considered that maggots might 7 00:00:23,280 --> 00:00:25,960 Speaker 1: be what saves you all of us in the end. 8 00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:30,120 Speaker 1: Not all maggots are created equal, of course. The one 9 00:00:30,160 --> 00:00:32,040 Speaker 1: that's going to save you is not the flesh eating 10 00:00:32,120 --> 00:00:34,960 Speaker 1: screw worm maggot of the Florida Keys, nor the larva 11 00:00:35,040 --> 00:00:39,400 Speaker 1: that invests Sardinia's infamous and illegal delicacy Kasu marzou, or 12 00:00:39,560 --> 00:00:43,760 Speaker 1: maggot cheese. There's only one maggot currently known to science 13 00:00:43,800 --> 00:00:46,960 Speaker 1: that could possibly save humanity, and that's the larva of 14 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:50,920 Speaker 1: the black soldier fly. And they're still kind of gross. 15 00:00:51,240 --> 00:00:53,320 Speaker 1: Thousands of them will feast on a single food source 16 00:00:53,360 --> 00:00:57,000 Speaker 1: at once, creating a writhing, living fountain of maggots. But 17 00:00:57,240 --> 00:00:59,600 Speaker 1: sometimes you just have to set aside disgust in the 18 00:00:59,640 --> 00:01:03,640 Speaker 1: interest of survival. It's a writhing, living fountain of beneficent earth. 19 00:01:03,720 --> 00:01:08,680 Speaker 1: Saving Maggots common in much of the Western Hemisphere and Australia. 20 00:01:09,040 --> 00:01:12,559 Speaker 1: You may not have remembered noticing a black soldier fly before. 21 00:01:13,319 --> 00:01:15,320 Speaker 1: The adults are about one inch long around two and 22 00:01:15,319 --> 00:01:18,320 Speaker 1: a half centimeters and can be mistaken for wasps only. 23 00:01:18,319 --> 00:01:21,880 Speaker 1: They're extremely slow and lack a stinger. They often assue 24 00:01:21,959 --> 00:01:24,680 Speaker 1: flight and spend their fourteen days or so of adulthood 25 00:01:24,840 --> 00:01:28,280 Speaker 1: mosying around on the ground. But what black soldier flies 26 00:01:28,319 --> 00:01:31,039 Speaker 1: look like as adults hardly matters, as they spend very 27 00:01:31,080 --> 00:01:34,000 Speaker 1: little time in their grown up bodies. In fact, the 28 00:01:34,040 --> 00:01:37,560 Speaker 1: adults have no mouthparts or digestive organs because once they 29 00:01:37,600 --> 00:01:41,320 Speaker 1: become flies, it's sort of a hidden quiddit situation. They 30 00:01:41,319 --> 00:01:43,120 Speaker 1: can mate within a couple of days of hatching, and 31 00:01:43,200 --> 00:01:45,399 Speaker 1: they don't live more than a week or two after that. 32 00:01:46,480 --> 00:01:50,760 Speaker 1: So it's the larva that have sustainability researchers salivating. Literally, 33 00:01:51,440 --> 00:01:53,760 Speaker 1: if their plans come to fruition, we will all be 34 00:01:53,840 --> 00:01:56,920 Speaker 1: eating black soldier fly larva, which are referred to as 35 00:01:56,960 --> 00:02:01,400 Speaker 1: BSFL in the BIZ. This is because as BSFL contain 36 00:02:01,440 --> 00:02:05,560 Speaker 1: about fort protein in addition to some calcium and amino acids, 37 00:02:05,840 --> 00:02:09,440 Speaker 1: which is astronomical compared to every other plant and animal 38 00:02:09,480 --> 00:02:12,760 Speaker 1: based food on the planet, and they taste like peanuts 39 00:02:12,840 --> 00:02:16,400 Speaker 1: or fritos, depending on who you ask. According to a 40 00:02:17,200 --> 00:02:20,240 Speaker 1: United Nations report, insects already make up parts of the 41 00:02:20,280 --> 00:02:23,840 Speaker 1: diets of around two billion people worldwide, and as Earth's 42 00:02:23,919 --> 00:02:26,880 Speaker 1: human population grows, meat like beef and chicken will be 43 00:02:26,880 --> 00:02:30,400 Speaker 1: a protein option for fewer and fewer people. It only 44 00:02:30,400 --> 00:02:33,320 Speaker 1: takes one acre of BSFL to grow the same amount 45 00:02:33,320 --> 00:02:36,200 Speaker 1: of protein as three thousand acres of cattle or a 46 00:02:36,280 --> 00:02:39,680 Speaker 1: hundred and thirty acres of soybeans. The larva themselves can 47 00:02:39,680 --> 00:02:42,640 Speaker 1: be dried and turned into flour, pressed for their oils, 48 00:02:42,720 --> 00:02:44,919 Speaker 1: or roasted and sprinkled over a salad for a little 49 00:02:44,919 --> 00:02:47,680 Speaker 1: extra crunch. The sky's the limit with these little buddies. 50 00:02:48,960 --> 00:02:53,320 Speaker 1: Not only that bsf l make great trash processors, they're 51 00:02:53,360 --> 00:02:56,480 Speaker 1: capable of eating a wide variety of organic waste, nearly 52 00:02:56,520 --> 00:02:58,720 Speaker 1: anything you can throw at them, from food scraps and 53 00:02:58,800 --> 00:03:02,680 Speaker 1: rotting carcasses to poop and toxic algae, although they reportedly 54 00:03:02,720 --> 00:03:06,040 Speaker 1: have a difficult time managing hair bones and pineapple rindes, 55 00:03:06,680 --> 00:03:09,040 Speaker 1: so farming with them would leave us with a smaller 56 00:03:09,080 --> 00:03:12,600 Speaker 1: carbon footprint and a whole lot of compost a group 57 00:03:12,600 --> 00:03:14,959 Speaker 1: of researchers at Texas A and M has even figured 58 00:03:14,960 --> 00:03:17,680 Speaker 1: out how to put BSFL to sleep for long periods 59 00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:19,639 Speaker 1: of time and then wake them up when it's time 60 00:03:19,680 --> 00:03:23,560 Speaker 1: to put them to work eating waste. A few different 61 00:03:23,560 --> 00:03:26,720 Speaker 1: companies are currently trying to make this BSFL thing happen, 62 00:03:27,440 --> 00:03:30,000 Speaker 1: But can we get over a revulsion in the interest 63 00:03:30,040 --> 00:03:32,360 Speaker 1: of survival Keep your ear to the ground of the 64 00:03:32,400 --> 00:03:40,160 Speaker 1: next few decades we're about to find out. Today's episode 65 00:03:40,200 --> 00:03:42,440 Speaker 1: was written by Jescelin Shields and produced by Tyler Clang. 66 00:03:42,880 --> 00:03:45,480 Speaker 1: Brain Stuff this production of I Heart Radio's How Stuff Works. 67 00:03:45,760 --> 00:03:48,560 Speaker 1: For more on this and lots of other futuristically gross topics, 68 00:03:48,640 --> 00:03:52,240 Speaker 1: visit our home planet how stuff Works dot com and more. Podcasts. 69 00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:55,360 Speaker 1: For my heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 70 00:03:55,400 --> 00:03:57,080 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.