You are about to do some research and thinking on worms, specifically, on how worms might be improved to help make the soil a better place to grow crops.

Why make the soil a better place to grow crops?

A lot of people in the world go to bed hungry every night, and many die from starvation. In certain parts of the world, this happens because the soil in which people would grow crops is not of a good quality, so crops don’t grow, or grow poorly. If we could figure out how to make more crops grow, by improving the quality of the soil, we could help supply more people with the food they need to survive.

What do worms have to do with decreasing world hunger?

Earthworms help the soil. They live in the soil, and as they worm their way through the soil, the tunnels they leave behind allow water and oxygen into the soil. This water and oxygen then has a much easier time reaching the roots of plants that are growing in the soil, helping the plants to grow. Worms also eat pieces of plants and other nutrients that are found in the soil, and the waste that they produce helps fertilize the soil, which also helps plants grow. If we could think of how to “improve” worms to make the soil even more fertile (able to grow crops), we could grow more crops in this improved soil, thereby producing more food for the world’s population.

What do you mean by “improve a worm?"

In the last several decades, scientists have started to “genetically engineer” plants and animals to “improve” them in order to benefit humans. Have you ever heard of a seedless watermelon? Seedless watermelons are an example of a genetically engineered food. People liked watermelons but not the seeds, so scientists figured out a way to grow watermelons without the seeds. This process of changing a plant or animal, most often to benefit humans, is called genetic engineering. Genetic engineering can also be used in animals. For example, scientists have genetically engineered fish so that they grow faster and don’t get sick as easily, thus increasing the number of healthy fish available for humans to eat.

In this project, you will be thinking about what changes could be made to the worm to make it even better at improving the soil. In order to do that, you’ll research how the worm currently works and what it does to help the soil. You’ll then come up with ideas about what more the worm could do to help the soil, and figure out what changes you’d need to make to the worm to achieve those improvements.

I’m no worm expert! How will I be able to figure out how to “improve a worm?"

This project provides many resources, including step by step guides, to help you think through the problem you are solving one step at a time. In addition, like many scientists, you’ll be working in a team, and will be able to bounce ideas off of your teammates, and give and receive feedback from them. In addition, a mentor will be available to help you when you have questions, and will give you feedback on your work.

How do I get started?

Simply click on Task 1 in the left menu. This project is a simulation; you do your work within a fictional scenario in which you and your peers will have recently been employed to work as scientists for a billionaire named Bill Clark, who has many ideas about how science can improve the quality of human life. Bill hires teams of scientists (you and your fellow students) to research his ideas, to see if they “have legs"--that is, to see if they might actually work. He has a new idea that he would like you and your teammates to research (whether the earthworm could be reengineered to be more efficient in what it does for soil, or to make it effective in areas where it currently does not help soil much at all) to see if you think it has merit.

By clicking on Task 1, you will see Bill’s first email to you, describing your task. Once you’ve read his email, you can look at the “Get Help” section of the task for a step-by-step guide and other resources to help you do your work.