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Microbes Produce Power As They Clean Nuclear Waste
An anonymous reader writes "Researchers at Michigan State University (MSU) have isolated and explained the phenomenon that causes microbes to generate electricity while cleaning up nuclear waste. The team is hoping to use their findings to create a microbial fuel cell that is capable of generating renewable energy while it cleans up environments exposed to nuclear waste. The bacteria the team studied is a kind of geobacter that is covered in a coat of tiny, natural nanowires that protect the bacteria from the toxic materials. While completing the complex task of stabilizing radioactive spills, the bacteria simultaneously creates energy that can be harnessed and used as a zero-emissions power supply."
Now if we can only find a bacterium that converts sunlight into nuclear waste we'll have near infinite clean energy!
So, feeding microbes mutagenic nuclear waste. What could possibly go wrong?
You forgot that those are genetically modified microbes.
How is this renewable energy??? is there a constant influx of nuclear waste?? oh yes there is... sorry, my bad
Note that what is going on is essentially chemical, not nuclear. That is, the bacteria are getting energy out by chemical processes of elements that happen to be radioactive. If one had a sample of pure uranium 238 (which is radioactive but only a tiny bit so, with a very very long halflife) these bacteria would act identically. And if one could magically make uranium not radioactive the behavior of these bacteria would not change at all.
A rat teaches them martial arts?
You're forgetting about Hanlon's Razor.
The larger concern I have here -- a position taken that anyone in disagreement must be duplicitous, without even allowing an opposing argument to be first presented, is no way to have a serious discussion.
This is, indeed, great research. Why muddy the waters with a bunch of flamebaiting?
Proud because possessing a vagina limits scientific prowess? Or proud because they scored one for team vagina?
All microbes are genetically modified. The process is called natural selection.
Great Intellect...
. I am proud that it was all done by a team of female researchers.
Personally I'm just proud of it.
It could have been done by nazi pedophile devil beasts and I would still have been proud of the research.
Them being females neither adds nor takes away from their results. Because this is science and it doesn't matter who does it.
This is slashdot, and using a topic to pursue your own agenda is part of what makes this a shitty experience.
I'm always impressed by the quality of the writing in these sorts of things. It's honestly inspiring because I know anyone who would seemingly waste such talent on anonymous shit stories must find better outlets for their abilities. I hope you are creating something that makes the world a better place, you can.
You're forgetting about Hanlon's Razor.
You're forgetting about Grey's Law.
Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice.
If they're vocal and annoying enough, does it matter if the cause is through ignorance or intent?
This made me laugh out loud and startle my sleeping wife beside me.
Well done indeed.
just add nuclear waste
So I guess this is a good time to mention Hitler?
It matters for purposes of discussing motivations.
If one doesn't care about motivations, one need not discuss them.
I guess it's time to nuke mars and infect the tires of the next rover with these things.
No fair! You changed the outcome by measuring it!
> Anyone who is truly concerned about our environment must admit that there is no cleaner energy source then nuclear
Great statement, a nice way to open the door to discussion. Reminds me of GWB: "You're either with us, or against us".
lucm, indeed.
> It could have been done by nazi pedophile devil beasts and I would still have been proud of the research.
But what if it was female nazis? (I'm pretty sure nazis had females too, someone had to sew all those swastikas.)
lucm, indeed.
> Proud because possessing a vagina limits scientific prowess?
Proud because a team of female researchers is half the price, so it is not only a scientific achievement, but also an economical one.
lucm, indeed.
FTFA, “Our findings clearly identify nanowires as being the primary catalyst for uranium reduction.They are essentially performing nature’s version of electroplating with uranium, effectively immobilizing the radioactive material and preventing it from leaching into groundwater,”
The biggest bleeding hemorrhoid of New Clear Power is the Radio Waste. Filter the radio active part away from the trash, and the trash can recycled. The Radio Active Waste part can then be recombined into something else that is useful. I was thinking of expensive blast furnaces with a combination of fractionating columns. But if some type of Bacteria can do the job, all be it one atom at a time, then my giant blast furnace patent could be in real jeopardy. So this now begs the question, how could one test it? Maybe a road trip to Chernobyl?
nuclear energy + genetic engineering + nanoparticles = clean planet
Yes. Maybe a little *too* clean. In other words, I, for one, welcome our new nuclear-fed, genetic engineered nano particle overlords.
The CB App. What's your 20?
If they oppose it, then it is a clear proof that their motivations are not as clear as they wish us to believe.
Or, more probably, they don't believe your formula, and are wary of hidden snags.
Now if only people would shoot themselves in their foot, and be sacrificial fodder for the greater good, we could force them to spend exorbitant amounts of their dollars into making nanowires, improved syntheic bacteria based on the ones the researchers used.
Why aren't anyone shooting their own foot for the greater good?!! People are so selfish.
BTW I won't shoot my own foot because I genuinely need it. So don't blame me. There are people who can afford to shoot themselves in the foot. Ask them to pay for it. Or better, let us force them to pay for it.
99.999999999% and then some of all the life forms on Earth are bacteria. Assuming you're human, the bacteria in your own body outnumber the not-bacteria cells more than 100:1.
The bacteria own the the biosphere, from the highest reaches of the atmosphere to miles beneath the surface. The mass of bacteria outweigh all of the algae in the seas, plus all the trees, plus every other plant and animal living by 10x. Even if you break those down into individual cells, bacteria outnumber those cells by 10:1.
The bacteria control the absorptoin of CO2, the temperature and the flow of ice
We deem ourselves the masters of this world when it is only a lease, let for the nonce. Unless we 'scape this world we are no better than our single-celled brethren, and share their fate.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
Thanks. Indeed, this thread is annoying, thanks for stopping it :-)
It could have been done by nazi pedophile devil beasts and I would still have been proud of the research.
Indeed, nazis such as Dr Mengele did lots of medical research whose results are still useful today!
It was a ridiculous idea.
I also have modpoints and would also mod you artfully dissonant. Send it to Hustler Magazine with an SASE and see if they buy it. And work on your standup routine.
Uranium generally isn't a problem in radioactive spills or contamination. It's not particularly biotoxic as a metal or oxide and with very long half-lives for the two most common isotopes (U-235's half-life is 700 million years and for U-238 it's 4.5 billion years) it's not even very radioactive by itself. Most uranium ore bodies contain a lot of decay products like radium, thorium, polonium etc. which have built up over millions or billions of years and these are exposed to the wider environment when the uranium ore is mined and refined. A method of concentrating and sequestering such short-halflife isotopes from mine tailings would be more useful than this biological method which only, it seems, concentrates uranium. Right now the Japanese would really like a variant that, say, concentrated cesium in a similar manner as Cs-134 and Cs-137 are 99.9% of the contamination problem in the area around Fukushima.
It might be this particular form of the bacteria could be better used to extract uranium from lesser ore bodies or even seawater where it is present in quantities of about 3 tonnes per cubic kilometre but right now and for the next fifty years or more uranium ore is plentiful enough that the costs of such marginal operations would outweigh the value of uranium metal (currently trading on world markets for 60 dollars a kilo) extracted by them.
Of course uranium has a scary reputation -- see this news report for an example. Further comments suggest the uranium in question was 500 milligrammes of yellowcake in a sealed vial, a gift from a friend studying chem eng who had prepared it from ore found in New Mexico (just lying about out in the open! Horrors!).
1. Wacky new source of power reported that will POWER ALL THE THINGS!
2. Never heard about again
3. "What ever happened to that what's it called? The thing? The- ah, never mind..."
Reguera has filed patents to build on her research, which could lead to the development of microbial fuel cells capable of generating electricity while cleaning up after environmental disasters.
Way to speed up the process of building tools to protect people from disasters!
Having to work for a living is the root of all evil.
This is excellent research. I noticed in the picture of the MSU research team that they're all women. I hope they can inspire more women to join the scientific research community. We need more people in it, and women are the majority of people. Without getting closer to 50:50 gender parity, we're losing the talent and hard work of a large fraction of the people pool we need to draw from. More role models will get more women to follow suit, just as they do for men.
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make install -not war
+1: Correct application of Godwin's Law :)
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make install -not war
Not entirely sure I understand it, but does this mean they can clean up depleted uranium/ nuclear waste? That would be awesome.
The scientific inaccuracies in the summation and the article are the result of OP posting a science article from an design fetishist SEO content farm site. Hard to get the science right when you are masturbating to "100 Danish Pendant Lamps"...
We must make sure we keep this out of enemy hands. The Daleks could reclaim their planet Skaro from the Thals with this technology.
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
nuff said!
Proof that we're living in The Future. Ghost in the Shell fans will recognize the Japanese Miracle in action. The '30s should be an interesting decade...
Much Madness is divinest Sense --
To a discerning Eye --
Much Sense -- the starkest Madness
Hoping good results coming out.