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| LegalEagle |
 Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 7:38 am Post subject: Can biotech clean up mercury poisoning? |
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Forum Freshman
Joined: 06 Apr 2008
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Mercury poisoning has been an issue for decades, when it first affected a Japanese fishing village, and it remains an issue with our rivers.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/22/science/22obmerc.html?ref=science
I'm wondering if microbes can be used to absorb the mercury and then somehow be processed so that what remains is something that can be buried. After all, there are extremophiles everywhere, and surely they can be put to good use.[/url] |
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| Zitterbewegung |
| Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 7:55 am Post subject: |
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Joined: 24 Dec 2007
Posts: 67
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To my knowledge there are only 4 or 5 metallic elements that microbes can not incorporate in their metabolism and mercury is one of them IIRC. The other ones are Zinc, Silver and dunno.
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Those who do not know are damned to believe.
Free Tibet! |
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| LegalEagle |
| Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 8:48 am Post subject: |
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| But extremophiles might be able to do it. They can now live in battery acid. |
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| i_feel_tiredsleepy |
| Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 12:28 pm Post subject: |
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Forum Senior
Joined: 21 Mar 2008
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Location: Montreal
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| Bacteria incorporate mercury just fine that's the problem, they metabolize ionic mercury, then it get's converted to methylmercury and get's consumed by fish and makes it's way up the food chain until it kills us lol. |
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| LegalEagle |
| Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 2:45 pm Post subject: |
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| i_feel_tiredsleepy wrote: |
| Bacteria incorporate mercury just fine that's the problem, they metabolize ionic mercury, then it get's converted to methylmercury and get's consumed by fish and makes it's way up the food chain until it kills us lol. |
Can we get some way for the bacteria to soak up the mercury, then collect the bacteria and process it into something useful or at least not harmful? |
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