{"id":23337,"date":"2020-12-13T19:07:22","date_gmt":"2020-12-13T19:07:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=23337"},"modified":"2020-12-13T23:30:34","modified_gmt":"2020-12-13T23:30:34","slug":"why-do-scientists-care-about-worms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/why-do-scientists-care-about-worms\/","title":{"rendered":"Why do scientists care about worms?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Helen Robertson<\/a>, University of Chicago<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

I traveled to a marine research station on a picturesque Swedish fjord many times over the four years I worked on my Ph.D. What brought me back again and again? Buried in the mud off the west coast of Sweden lives a small orangey brown worm, which, to the untrained eye, looks entirely insignificant.<\/p>\n

\"blobby<\/a>
The author\u2019s worm of choice, Xenoturbella<\/em>.<\/span>
\nFraser Simpson<\/span>, CC BY-ND<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The fact that I devoted so much study to this boring-looking worm was a source of great amusement to my friends. To them, and perhaps to most people, the word worm conjures up the idea of a fat pink earthworm. So why sift through tons of mud from a freezing Swedish fjord to find a handful of animals I could dig up in the garden?<\/p>\n

Broadly defined, a worm is any relatively small soft-bodied animal, but there\u2019s an amazing amount of diversity in this group. These animals live across the globe, and some of them are remarkably resilient; they can be found in habitats ranging from deep-sea hydrothermal vents to lakes that are three times saltier than the sea. \u201cWorm\u201d is really a catchall term for a huge variety of animals with different characteristics that span the tree of life.<\/p>\n

This diversity means that scientists from many different disciplines are interested in lots of different species of worms. For instance, my worm from the fjord, called Xenoturbella bocki<\/em>, holds a pivotal position for understanding animal evolution.<\/p>\n

At first glance you might think that people and all these worms have very little in common. But really, many worm species provide opportunities for scientists to perform basic research on cells and systems that can be translated into information about our biological origins, and even relevant applications for human development and health.<\/p>\n

Regeneration<\/h2>\n

If your head is chopped off, you won\u2019t grow a new one. But if you were a planarian flatworm, you wouldn\u2019t just grow a new head \u2013 your head would also grow a new body. Cut one of these inconspicuous worms into hundreds of tiny pieces, and you\u2019ll end up with hundreds of new animals. Planaria are truly the masters of regeneration.<\/p>\n