{
  "id": 1499270,
  "title": "Meet Ananya Nagendra, 18, who built an ant-based digester for food waste",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/17/meet-ananya-nagendra-18-who-built-an-ant-based-digester-for-food-waste",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-08-17T13:13:14.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Times of India",
    "slug": "times-of-india",
    "url": "https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/meet-ananya-nagendra-the-18-year-old-texas-student-who-built-an-ant-based-digester-for-landfill-food-waste-tests-found-her-prototype-was-about-83-efficient/articleshow/133298125.cms"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "A student developed an ant-based digester to process food waste efficiently. This innovative system uses ants to break down organic materials, reducing landfill methane. Experiments showed Camponotus castaneus ants consumed the most waste, proving effective. Her prototype achieved an impressive eighty-three percent efficiency in initial tests. This research offers a novel biological approach to…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}