Slashdot Mirror
New Bacterium Lives On Caffeine
Kozar_The_Malignant writes "A newly-described species of bacterium, Pseudomonas putida has been found to live on pure caffeine. The little jaspers metabolize caffeine into carbon dioxide and ammonia. They were found living in a flower bed on the University of Iowa campus, not in the drain of an espresso machine as one might expect. The paper presenting the research will be presented at the American Society for Microbiology meeting in New Orleans this month where caffeine metabolism will have to contend with the traditional ethanol metabolism."
You can't just go around metabolizing people's caffeine and expect no retribution. We need that caffeine to survive boring meetings.
Kill it! Kill it with fire! It must be stopped! Don't let it take our caffeine!
"Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."
Come on, Slashdot! Pseudomonas putida is not new! Chemists have been using it for the biochemical oxidation of aromatic compounds for decades. The CBB5 designator, as boring as it is, is the new species identifier.
"One swallows the lie that flatters, but sips the bitter truth drop by drop." --Diderot
Why would you need a liquid nitrogen trap? Methylene chloride boils at 39 point something C.
Supercritical CO2 is a good solvent for decaffeination and presents no hazard of residue (even if the process gets screwed up) and better workplace safety.