Using seaweed to harvest valuable metals
Researchers demonstrated that blooms of the free-floating seaweed Sargassum can sustainably extract rare earth elements from water.
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?
When glaciers retreat, microbes take over
Researchers demonstrated that the first microbes to colonize recently deglaciated soil can extract nutrients from air and rock to survive…
Using bacteria to fight fungal brown rot
Scientists compared the effectiveness of traditional chemical fungicides and newer biological fungicides in killing the fungus responsible…
Does the Arctic Ocean regulate or amplify global warming?
Researchers found that interactions between methane gas and seawater affected greenhouse gas emissions from the Arctic Ocean during a past…
Biofertilizers change plants’ natural microbes
Scientists tested how mixtures of plant-growth-promoting bacteria affect the microbial communities of different sunflower varieties for use…
Scientists probe plant-based soil cleanup
Researchers tested plant-based soil remediation methods and found that adding beneficial microbes to copper-contaminated soil improved…
Gases power diverse microbial life in caves
Researchers found that cave-dwelling microbes use atmospheric trace gases like methane and carbon monoxide as sources of energy and carbon.
Do microbes prefer biodegradable plastic?
Researchers found that microbes living on biodegradable plastics have more genes for plastic degradation than those living on traditional…
Methane-munching microbes modify the seafloor
Researchers showed that methane-eating bacteria acidify their surroundings and dissolve carbonate rocks on the seafloor.
Thinking like a bacterium can improve water quality
Researchers show mathematical models based on cell biology can help lake managers reduce toxic algal blooms and improve the quality of our…