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Scientists at The University of Texas at Austin's Marine Science Institute have discovered nearly two dozen new types of microbes, many of which use hydrocarbons such as methane and butane as energy sources to survive and grow—meaning the newly identified bacteria might be helping to limit the concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and might one day be useful for cleaning up oil spills.
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"This shows the deep oceans contain expansive unexplored biodiversity, and microscopic organisms there are capable of degrading oil and other harmful chemicals," said assistant professor of marine science Brett Baker, the paper's primary investigator. "Beneath the ocean floor huge reservoirs of hydrocarbon gases—including methane, propane, butane and others—exist now, and these microbes prevent greenhouse gases from being released into the atmosphere."
Beware of eco-terrorists injecting oil fields with these bacteria!
(Score: 4, Touché) by bradley13 on Wednesday November 28 2018, @10:41AM
Oil-eating bacteria are nothing new. There were a number of articles about oil-eating bacteria after the gulf oil spill [scientificamerican.com].
Oil fields leak, or are exposed naturally. It's all a matter of quantity and timing. Nature doesn't care if oil is dribbling out of a crack in the ground, or if an oil field is slowly exposed by erosion or geological changes (that's what Canada's oil sands are). If it takes a few million years to clean things up, so what?
The problem comes when we short-lived humans who spill millions of liters at once - which doesn't happen in nature - and then want it all cleaned up by next year.
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.