Category: How can microbes clean up the environment?

How can microbes, archae, and fungi be used to clean up pollution? How do we treat water and soil using microbiology?

sprite plastic bottle on table

How long will plastic waste stick around in the deep sea? Scientists recently showed that microbes can degrade some types of plastics on the deep sea floor, but they do so incredibly slowly.

Posted on August 15, 2022August 11, 2022 by Aubrey Zerkle 615 views

Plastics are ideal for use in household and industrial products because they are strong and elastic, but these properties also make them…

What if plastic could detect light or clean wastewater? This is precisely the principle behind the idea of bioengineered living, “functional” materials. This clever study used the kombucha technique to grow a starchy material (similar to ingredients of biodegradable plastic) that can detect light, remove hormones from wastewater, and more.

Posted on April 25, 2022April 20, 2022 by Madeleyn Cajamarca and Gina Misra 595 views

Engineered living materials are composed of both synthetic materials and living cells. They are made in a lab to do things, like respond to…

Invasive trees are changing the soil in the American Southwest Lab tests show that plants influence soil properties over their lifetime because of the bacteria that live on their roots, and Russian olive trees produce previously unaccounted for greenhouse gas emissions.

Posted on January 27, 2022January 12, 2022 by Marina Hein 1k views

Ecosystems with diverse species and healthy habitats provide services that keep the system stable and are beneficial to humans. Humans…

Microbes that eat iron are a cause of bedrock erosion Scientists find that iron-eating microbes taken from an iron-rich bedrock site in Puerto Rico have the ability to break down pieces of granite in laboratory cultures, showing that iron-eating organisms are involved in the erosion of bedrock.

Posted on January 6, 2022November 29, 2021 by Madison Payne 442 views

Are microscopic mineral-eating microbes breaking down our mountains? They may be behind bedrock erosion.

Hundred-year-old dirt may be able to help restore damaged desert Transplanting masses of microscopic organisms called "biocrusts" to damaged drylands has been shown to successfully increase soil stability and plant drought resistance both in the field and in greenhouse plots.

Posted on December 2, 2021November 29, 2021 by Sophia Salazar 671 views

Scientists hope to restore biocrusts by transplanting healthy salvaged biocrusts to damaged areas. This method was found to successfully…

Scientists use bacteria to remove uranium from polluted water In a laboratory scale experiment, scientists found uranium-eating bacteria that could remove 90% of uranium from the culture liquid by turning it into a salt that drops out of the solution.

Posted on November 29, 2021November 29, 2021 by Hannah Lambertson 1k views

Scientists discover a bacterial species that could potentially clean up uranium contamination in the environment following mining activity…

Researchers propose making concrete with human bodily fluids It may seem weird and disgusting, but when you mix Martian surface dust with human serum albumin and urine, it makes a substance tougher than concrete that may be useful as a building material.

Posted on October 25, 2021February 14, 2022 by Hunter Dulay 814 views

Imagine what it would be like to be an astronaut landing on Mars for the first time. The red planet has little more than dust and rocks as…

Can hidden sulfur cycling influence greenhouse gas emissions in wetlands? A recent study revealed that at least some methane emissions from wetlands come from sulfur bacteria living in the area between the creek bed and the groundwater. But, it's not simple. Some bacteria may be limiting methane, too.

Posted on March 2, 2021July 27, 2021 by Mary Sabuda 383 views

Wetlands are the largest source of methane to Earth’s atmosphere. How do microbes, sulfur, and mixing of water sources influence…

Using Reishi mushrooms to filter methane out of the atmosphere Both living and dead fungi were tested for their ability to capture methane from the atmosphere. Surprisingly, dead fungi performed the best and have high potential for reducing methane levels.

Posted on January 11, 2021July 27, 2021 by Mary Sabuda 2k views

Could dead or living #fungi be used as a biofilter to trap and remove #methane, the potent #greenhousegas, from the atmosphere? Researchers…

Fungi may be able to help clean up polluted water A few species of fungi were tested for their ability to clean up wastewaters contaminated with selenium. With additional nutrients added, it mostly worked. The fungi Alternaria showed great potential for cleaning up water polluted with selenite.

Posted on November 24, 2020April 1, 2021 by Mary Sabuda 873 views

Human activities such as coal mining and processing can cause high levels of selenium contamination, which can be harmful to human health.…