Possible Solution to Ground Water Contamination Threat at Nuclear Waste Sites
Scientists discover that bacteria roll out carpet of goo that converts deadly heavy metal into less threatening nanospheres.
Since the discovery a little more than a decade ago of bacteria that chemically modify and neutralize toxic metals without apparent harm to themselves, scientists have wondered how on earth these microbes do it.
For Shewanella oneidensis, a microbe that modifies uranium chemistry, the pieces are coming together, and they resemble pearls that measure precisely 5 nanometers across enmeshed in a carpet of slime secreted by the bacteria.