LinkNotes: algae

Showing posts with label algae. Show all posts

2011-04-11

Green Algae Could Help Clean Up Nuclear Waste

Algae Could Be Key to Cleaning Up Nuclear Accident Sites - FoxNews.com

Algae can secrete biofuels and pump out biologic drugs, and now researchers think it could help clean up radioactive accidents like the one unfolding at Japan's Fukushima nuclear facility.

A Northwestern University researcher has identified a certain kind of common algae, known as Closterium moniliferum, that has a unique penchant for sequestering strontium into crystals, a trick that could help remove the dangerous radioactive isotope strontium-90 from the environment.

Collected from: Algae Could Be Key to Cleaning Up Nuclear Accident Sites - FoxNews.com

Green Algae Could Help Clean up Radioactive Nuclear Waste Algae – Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World

Collected from: Green Algae Could Help Clean up Radioactive Nuclear Waste Algae – Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World

Pond Alga Could Help Scientists Design Effective Method for Cleaning Up Nuclear Waste: McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern

The crescent-shaped, single-celled organism studied by Joester and his colleagues naturally makes biominerals that include non-radioactive strontium, and it can differentiate strontium from calcium -- a rare feat. The researchers want to learn more about this selectivity because calcium is present in far greater abundance than strontium in nuclear waste, but calcium is harmless. By concentrating the radioactive strontium (Sr-90) in the form of solid crystals with very low solubility, the dangerous high-level waste could be isolated from the rest and dealt with separately.

[...]

Joester, Krejci, Finney and Vogt all are authors of the paper, titled “Selective Sequestration of Strontium in Desmid Green Algae by Biogenic Co-precipitation with Barite.”

Collected from: Pond Alga Could Help Scientists Design Effective Method for Cleaning Up Nuclear Waste: McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern

What’s the Context: The danger of strontium-90 is that it is chemically similar to calcium, and so can be taken up into milk, bones, and other tissues. Nuclear waste and spills can contain significant amounts of strontium; C. moniliferum is especially helpful because it can precipitate strontium but leave calcium alone (calcium is different enough from barium that the bacteria doesn’t crystallize it).

Not So Fast: Scientists don’t yet know how well the algae can withstand radioactivity, which could potentially put a damper on this clean-up method. Now, the scientists would like to find ways of increasing sulphate levels in the environment, which may in turn increase the ability of the algae to crystallize strontium.

Collected from: 3 Creative Tools for Nuclear Cleanup: Algae, Rust, and Bacteria | 80beats | Discover Magazine

Related

2009-10-04

Paper-Based Thin-Film Batteries

clipped from www.technologyreview.com

A Salt and Paper Battery

The simple, non-polluting battery could be used in compact devices.

Researchers at Uppsala University in Sweden have made a flexible battery using two common, cheap ingredients: cellulose and salt. The lightweight, rechargeable battery uses thin pieces of paper--pressed mats of tangled cellulose fibers--for electrodes, while a salt solution acts as the electrolyte.

clipped from pubs.acs.org

Ultrafast All-Polymer Paper-Based Batteries

clipped from www.altdotenergy.com

The key to the discovery lies in the way in which the algae, Cladophora, produce a unique type of cellulose with a very large surface area (approximately 80 square meters of surface area per gram of material).

clipped from personal.teknik.uu.se

Nanotechnology and Functional Materials

Welcome to the division for Nanotechnology and Functional Materials. We are a part of the Department for Engineering sciences and situated at the Ångström Laboratory. The division was established in 2004 and is headed by prof. Maria Strømme.

Sources:

Oceans Are Dying

As a result of pollution and overfishing some of the advanced forms of ocean life are struggling to survive while the most primitive are thriving and spreading: algae, bacteria and jellyfish are growing unchecked. This 'rise of slime' is killing larger species and sickening people.

Clipped from: Our Oceans Are Dying and We're At Fault : TreeHugger

The Los Angeles Times report this morning on the state of the oceans sounds like something out of a horror movie - fishermen come in contact with a spongy weed, only to break out into a painful rash that won't go away and literally peels your skin off. Get a drop in your mouth and your tongue swells so much you can't eat for a week. Scientists in labs can't be in the same room with it, the smell is so pungent. Only the problem is that this is for real and happening more and more often in coastal areas around the world. We are putting too much food into the oceans, scientists say, and now the oceans are reverting back to primeval seas of millions and even billions of years ago."

Clipped from: A Primeval Tide of Toxins - Los Angeles Times: "California | Local

A Primeval Tide of Toxins
Runoff from modern life is feeding an explosion of primitive organisms. This 'rise of slime,' as one scientist calls it, is killing larger species and sickening people.

MORETON BAY, AUSTRALIA -- The fireweed began each spring as tufts of hairy growth and spread across the seafloor fast enough to cover a football field in an hour.

When fishermen touched it, their skin broke out in searing welts. Their lips blistered and peeled. Their eyes burned and swelled shut. Water that splashed from their nets spread the inflammation to their legs and torsos.

'It comes up like little boils,' said Randolph Van Dyk, a fisherman whose powerful legs are pocked with scars. 'At nighttime, you can feel them burning. I tried everything to get rid of them. Nothing worked.'"

Clipped from: Ocean “Dead Zones” Increasing: 400 Oxygen-Deprived Areas Now Exist : TreeHugger

Dead Zones Have Doubled Every 10 Years Since 1960s

According to the study, the number of marine dead zones—areas which are periodically or permanently starved of oxygen—has doubled every 10 years since the 1960s, with those along coastlines increasing in size and intensity. Currently there are about 400 coastal areas, with a combined area larger than the size of Oregon, with such poor water quality, with so little oxygen that only microbes can survive in it. Fish and crustaceans must flee the area or die.

marine dead zones map image
Map showing partial number of current marine dead zones: Dr Robert Diaz/NASA"

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