No, they digest them. Here's another article with more information.

https://phys.org/news/2017-04-caterpillar-bags-biodegradable...

>To confirm it wasn't just the chewing mechanism of the caterpillars degrading the plastic, the team mashed up some of the worms and smeared them on polyethylene bags, with similar results

Thats one hell of a test..

Scientist 1: it may be an enzyme in the caterpillars, how we can we test for that

Scientist 2: well how about we anaestetise the caterpillar and use a microfilament to extract the gut contents, then we can ...

Scientist 1: <splat>

I'm currently sitting next to Paolo Bombelli... He laughed and said that your version of events is fairly accurate, although they used liquid nitrogen as an "anesthetic".

I'd just put them in the centrifuge that they use to liquefy mice.

Oh God. There is a centrifuge to liquify mice?!

Yep. The animals are euthanized with CO2, placed in the device, and reduced to liquid in seconds. Obviously, this is not done when specific organs need to remain intact, but if you can do your measurements from homogenized whole animal, it saves a lot of time on rapid perfusion and dissection.

Specialty devices exist, but a standard high-speed desktop centrifuge can also be used, as a mouse will generally fit into a 50 mL centrifuge tube.

Generally best not to think about it too much if you like animals, but also like biochemical sciences. But if you're after a specific enzyme that would not be destroyed by rupture of the cell wall, whole-animal sacrifice by centrifuge is the cheap and easy way to get at it.

I like the humorous way in which you put it, but oh, can’t help but imagine some higher creature talking about experimenting on us in a similar way /shudder

How is... "homogenization" by centrifuge different than just using a blender or food processor?

I don't understand what this means. Results similar to what?

Similar to letting them eat the bags.