cheryl
Administrator
Staff member
Scientists at Caltech accidentally discover bacteria that eat metal - The Denver Channel
A bacteria that was thought to have existed a century ago, but could never be found, has finally been discovered.
California Institute of Technology (Caltech) microbiologists Jared Leadbetter and Hang Yuat, who discovered it, said in a press release that the bacteria feeds on manganese and uses the metal as their fuel source.
"This discovery from Jared and Hang fills a major intellectual gap in our understanding of Earth's elemental cycles, and adds to the diverse ways in which manganese, an abstruse but common transition metal, has shaped the evolution of life on our planet," said Woodward Fischer, professor of geobiology at Caltech, who was not involved with the study, in the news release.
A bacteria that was thought to have existed a century ago, but could never be found, has finally been discovered.
California Institute of Technology (Caltech) microbiologists Jared Leadbetter and Hang Yuat, who discovered it, said in a press release that the bacteria feeds on manganese and uses the metal as their fuel source.
"This discovery from Jared and Hang fills a major intellectual gap in our understanding of Earth's elemental cycles, and adds to the diverse ways in which manganese, an abstruse but common transition metal, has shaped the evolution of life on our planet," said Woodward Fischer, professor of geobiology at Caltech, who was not involved with the study, in the news release.