Step 1 - about me & project

Ever since I can remember, I always had a keen interest in insects and lizards. What began as a fascination with their tiny, scaly bodies turned into a desire to understand everything about their lifecycles – their habitats, natural behaviors, and even their food sources. So, when I entered high school, I began pursuing this passion academically.

While researching the food sources of lizards, I discovered that mealworms, due to their high nutritional value and reliability, were their main food source. Shockingly, however, I also read that those same reasons gave the mealworm potential to be a feasible future food source for the human body as well. In a world of poverty, a reliable meat substitute is in high demand; as such, the mealworm’s versatility could provide endless benefits to struggling communities. So, with the lofty goal of ending world hunger in mind, I decided to pursue this line of research, attempting to create a product that would optimize growth conditions for mealworms so that humans can maximize their production as a food source.

The mealworm goes through four major stages in its life span: egg, worm, pupae, and beetle. The life span lasts between four and six months, and they reproduce in the final stage. Eating a diet of almost anything, the mealworm is truly an excellent solution for food waste and composting, able to thrive in even the poorest of conditions. Yet, to boost growth, mealworms should be separated according to their different stages of life. So, my design will incorporate criteria that promote both faster and healthier growth of these mealworms.