Once the scourge of the seven seas because of their appetite for wooden sailing ships, gribbles could hold the secret to turning wood into biofuels. British researchers say the enzymes in the guts of the tiny marine isopods could lead to a chemical process that can covert woody plant fibres into usable fuel.
Gribbles are considered a pest: the ocean's termites. They can eat and digest the wood in sailing ships and, more importantly to modern-day sailors, piers and docks.
