8 years ago
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Scientists discover a bacterium that "breathes" uranium and renders it immobile
A strain of bacteria that "breathes" uranium may hold the key to cleaning up polluted groundwater at sites where uranium ore was processed to make nuclear weapons. A team of Rutgers University scientists and collaborators discovered the bacteria in soil at an old uranium ore mill in Rifle, Colorado, almost 200 miles west of Denver. The site is one of nine such mills in Colorado used during the heyday of nuclear weapons production.
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I really love extremophile bacteria, I actually worked in a lab in university where we were researching bacteria that reduced gold in a similar manner. Very interesting stuff, and the potential applications are profound.