sprucegoose: Toxic Metal Microbes Form Electrical Community

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Location: MInneapolis, Minnesota, United States

I am now a simple Grandpa who's life is made richer as each grandchild is born. My wife and I have raised five children and the 30 year love labor of raising them has begun to yield sweet fruit..... And then there are fruits of 30 years in ministry ... I am a satisfied old man full of the joy of the Lord.

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Toxic Metal Microbes Form Electrical Community

Yes, I know. This is an obscure item. But very interesting to me none the less.

They use bacteria to transform toxic metals into non-toxic forms as part of an attempt at enviromental clean-up. These bacteria do this, in part, by forming "nano-wires" that connect to other bacteria to form a network of interconnected microbes. This network is busy "dumping" excess electrons that they accumulate in the process of transforming the toxic metals into more benign forms.

This ends up being a community of microbe houses connected by nano-wires. A hard wired "village" of microbes busy in the task of stripping bad metals of their excess electrons. Can anyone say "far out?"

Read more here.

5 Comments:

Anonymous said...: "Far out!"
I'm so glad I have you to hear from, on the science watch.
The dynamics of God's creation are so flabbergasting.; 7:43 PM, July 11, 2006
Silvertongue said...: You know, there are microbes that do just the opposite. They're the source of all the mercury poisoning of the wildlife in the Everglades. Bfidobacteria on the water's surface collect neutral elemental mercury atoms that fall out of the air and turn them into mercury (2+) and then into dimethyl mercury which is absorbed 10X more readily than neutral elemental mercury in the stomach. (The mercury in the air comes from incinerated garbage.) There's a bacterium out there for almost every chemical function.; 4:34 PM, July 12, 2006
Anonymous said...: Wow. That's cool too. Down with incineration. I say we bury it... under Iowa... the southern part.
The consequences of every little sin seem to have a snowball effect. And now I suppose you're going to tell me that there's a bacterium that melts large clumps of snow. If so, I'm going to sell my snow-blower and stock-up on special bacteria.; 5:21 PM, July 12, 2006
Silvertongue said...: Well, actually, there's a structure in your cells that is essentially the same as a bacterium called a mitochondrion. In the brown-fat in babies, instead of generating energy, the mitochondria turn all the energy into heat to keep the baby warm. So, yeah, there's basically a bacterium that makes things hot and could melt snow.; 9:05 PM, July 13, 2006
Anonymous said...: Sorry. When I'm serious I'm too exacting to equate a mitochodrion with a bacterium. Although it's good to hear that when I get enough babies I can clear my very long sidewalk. Currently I'm at zero babies -- and my new-baby-nephew's daddy knows I have a blower.
I wish I could use bacteria. Fling fling.; 7:16 PM, July 14, 2006