Bacteria Used To Make Radioactive Metals Inert

Serenissima writes "Researcher Judy Wall is experimenting with bacteria that can cleanse the radioactivity from toxic areas by rendering the heavy metals into non-toxic, inert versions. The technology is not without its flaws (the bacteria can't exist in an oxygenated environment yet), but it does have the potential to cleanse some of the world's hazardous sites. From the article: 'The bacteria Wall is studying are bio-corrosives and can change the solubility of heavy metals. They can take uranium and convert it to uraninite, a nearly insoluble substance.'"

Comments

Re:Chemically inert, they mean

[PhxBlue]

If a reporter comes to ask you about your research, and comes away printing something totally inaccurate or just completely wrong then that is your fault.

I've worked with a few reporters in my time. If I didn't know better, I'd say you were a reporter, judging by how full of shit your statement is.

In point of fact, a lot of reporters aren't engineer-smart. They're writer-smart, but that's a completely different type of intelligence and doesn't help them at all when it comes to reporting on a scientific, technical, engineering or mechanical field. There are some journalists who are smart enough in both categories that they can pull it off, but most journalists don't match this description. But that's okay; the problem is that they'll run a story without asking their subject matter experts for clarification. Deadlines come first, facts come second, and giving people an accurate picture of what's going on ... well, it's a nice bonus.

And then you have the general public, which doesn't give two shits unless some technological advance actually affects their day-to-day lives -- so reporters can afford to be lazy because the only people who'll call them on it are those ivory-tower academics.