Bacteria Use Electric Wires to Shock Uranium Out of Groundwater
‘Bacteria Use Electric Wires to Shock Uranium Out of Groundwater’ is an article written by Ed Yong which tells us how bacteria is used to clean up. After the Cold War there was a lot of Uranium in the water, because of all the atomic weapons that were used. In this article it explains to us how a bacteria called Geobacter, helped clean up the waters of Colorado to rid it of the Uranium. The bacteria uses iron oxides and other metals to breathe just like humans use carbons to make carbon dioxide and water. The Geobacter, using the pili, adds electrons to the ions in the uranium and by doing that, the element changes to a form that doesn’t dissolve well in water, so the uranium comes out of the water and can be taken out.
This article relates to a global issue, because even though it is aimed at the water in Colorado, Uranium is all over the world, due to atomic weapons. By using this bacteria, they can clean up a lot the debris in the water caused by atomic weapons. All over the world we have things that are harmful to the environment and science is now helping to clean that up in small ways.
I think this article was very interesting to learn about how science can be used to help clean our environment. The bacteria is taking bad things out of the water, by adding electrons and changing the state. That is one thing that is a fall down in science, as stated in the article, “We knew a fair bit about what the bacteria were doing, but less about how they do it.” If they knew more about how it worked, it could be maybe be used to cleanup other harmful things in our environment, and hopefully they will soon figure it out!
Questions:
- Do you think Geobacter is making a significant contribution to the environment?
- What else could be a possibility for the bacteria to cleanup?
LINK TO ARTICLE
This article relates to a global issue, because even though it is aimed at the water in Colorado, Uranium is all over the world, due to atomic weapons. By using this bacteria, they can clean up a lot the debris in the water caused by atomic weapons. All over the world we have things that are harmful to the environment and science is now helping to clean that up in small ways.
I think this article was very interesting to learn about how science can be used to help clean our environment. The bacteria is taking bad things out of the water, by adding electrons and changing the state. That is one thing that is a fall down in science, as stated in the article, “We knew a fair bit about what the bacteria were doing, but less about how they do it.” If they knew more about how it worked, it could be maybe be used to cleanup other harmful things in our environment, and hopefully they will soon figure it out!
Questions:
- Do you think Geobacter is making a significant contribution to the environment?
- What else could be a possibility for the bacteria to cleanup?
LINK TO ARTICLE
