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New Bacterium Could Herald Bio-Batteries

Posted by timothy on from the are-animals-bio-batteries dept.

Clever Pun writes "According to this BBC article, a newly discovered bacterium is able to convert 'uranium and other radionuclides dissolved in water to solid compounds that can be extracted.' It reduces (adds electrons to) positively charged metal ions, making them insoluble in water (making them easier to clean up), which creates small charges of electricity. It has been speculated that this bacterium could potentially be used in a sort of bio-battery. Matrix v0.1b, anyone?"

2 of 60 comments (clear)

  1. heard this on NPR by jaredmauch · · Score: 5, Informative

    This was covered on NPR this past Friday. You can probally find some archive of it if you're interested in hearing it.. try here. It sounded interesting but not quite viable yet based on what I heard.

  2. Web site by RML · · Score: 5, Informative

    Quite a lot of information about this bacteria (Geobacter sulfurreducens) can be found at the Geobacter project home page.

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    Human/Ranger/Zangband