This Remarkable Life Form Conducts Electricity Like a Wire
Ca. Electrothrix yaqonensis—a cable bacteria discovered along the coast of Oregon—has the remarkable ability to conduct electricity.
According to researchers, this bacteria 'stands out from all other described cable bacteria species in terms of its metabolic potential.'
This newly discovered bacteria could be ideal for a variety of bioelectric applications, including in the fields of medicine, industry, and environmental remediation (as the bacteria can transfer electrons to clean up pollutants).
Today, human society is powered by the artificial electricity generated by turbines, nuclear reactors, and photovoltaics. But the very first investigations into the wonders of electricity were biological in origin. Thales of Miletus (considered to be the first scientist in the Western world) pondered on the cause of static electricity, and the electric prowess of eels inspired Alessandro Volta to invent the first battery. You and I are alive today because of the bioelectric field that permeates our cells.
Although we've evolved from Volta's first fish-inspired battery, the world of bioelectricty still has a lot to offer us. That couldn't be more apparent than in a new study, published this week in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology, which details the discovery of a new cable bacteria—built from rod-shaped cells attached end to end—on the central Oregon coast. Named Ca. Electrothrix yaqonensis in honor of the Yaqo'n people on whose ancestral lands the discovery was made, this bacteria is particularly adept at conducting electricity.
Because of their rod-shaped bodies, these cells create filaments that can stretch up to several centimeters in length. A rare feature among bacteria, Ca. Electrothrix yaqonensis's conductivity likely arises from it's optimization of metabolic processes in their environment.
'This new species seems to be a bridge, an early branch within the Ca. Electrothrix clade, which suggests it could provide new insights into how these bacteria evolved and how they might function in different environments,' Cheng Li, a postdoctoral researcher at Oregon State University and co-author of the study, said in a press statement. 'It stands out from all other described cable bacteria species in terms of its metabolic potential, and it has distinctive structural features, including pronounced surface ridges, up to three times wider than those seen in other species, that house highly conductive fibers made of unique, nickel-based molecules.'
In other words, it's a bioelectric bacteria on steroids. This could make the bacteria particularly effective in a variety of fields, including medicine, industry, and environmental monitoring. However, its most exciting capability is its use as a tool for pollutant remediation.
'These bacteria can transfer electrons to clean up pollutants, so they could be used to remove harmful substances from sediments,' Li said. 'Also, their design of a highly conductive nickel protein can possibly inspire new bioelectronics.'
Remediation can be one of the most time-consuming and costly aspects of infrastructure projects—particularly if a former brownfield site hopes to be reclaimed as a park or another public space. Having bacteria that can actively clean up the soil thanks to its electric biology could be a huge boon for environmental efforts.
Our understanding of electricity has come along way since Ancient Greece, but the biological world still has more than few electrifying tricks to teach us.
You Might Also Like
Can Apple Cider Vinegar Lead to Weight Loss?
Bobbi Brown Shares Her Top Face-Transforming Makeup Tips for Women Over 50
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
6 hours ago
- USA Today
'Killer bees' keep spreading (and killing) across the US
Scientists say the bees' temperament is to ward off predators. But unsuspecting humans will find them to be aggressive, spiteful and terrifying. Africanized honey bees, often called "killer bees," are now found in 13 states and are slowly spreading northward, attacking people, livestock and pets along the way. In the last three months alone, a man mowing his property died after a bee attack, three people were taken to the hospital after tree trimmers disturbed a colony, hikers ran a mile to get away from an agitated hive and a woman and three horses were swarmed by bees spooked by a lawn mower. The horses later died from "thousands" of stings, their owner said. Scientists say the bees' temperament is a defense mechanism to ward off predators – and note that because honey bees die after stinging, they are sacrificing themselves to protect their colony. But to unsuspecting humans, killer bees sure seem aggressive, spiteful and terrifying. They've been known to follow their victims for up to a mile – even following cars and trucks – and can sting through regular beekeeping gear. In the attack on the Texas horses, owner Baillie Hillman said, "they didn't give up." As parts of the west become warmer and drier, it's only going to get worse as the bees' preferred climate moves northward. There's no national database of deaths related to bee stings, but a 2023 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that on average 72 people died a year from hornet, wasp and bee stings. "In Texas, every year there's at least four big (Africanized bee) attacks that make the news," said Juliana Rangel, a professor of apiculture (beekeeping) at Texas A&M University, where they're widespread in the wild. "Killer bees" first made headlines in the 1990s when they began to appear in the United States, spawning alarming news stories and a surge of horror movies such as Deadly Invasion, The Swarm, The Savage Bees. Today, people in the South and the Southwest are learning to live with them, but the danger remains, especially when the highly defensive bees first appear in an area or when people accidentally run into a colony. Africanized honey bees don't survive in areas with cold winters and don't like high levels of rain, making for natural cutoffs in areas where temperatures fall, Rangel said. However in the coming decades, climate change means the bees could potentially move into southeastern Oregon, the western Great Plains and the southern Appalachian mountains, according to research published in 2014. "By 2050 or so, with increasing temperatures, we're going to see northward movement, mostly in the Western half of the country," said Rangel. How dangerous are Africanized honey bees? Africanized honey bees don't have more, or more potent, venom than Western honey bees. "The stings feel the same," said Rangel. What differentiates them is the numbers a colony sends out to attack. While each bee can only sting once before it dies, a colony of Africanized honey bees will send out proportionally more bees in a defensive response, leading to more stings. "If I'm working around one of my European honey bee colonies and I knock on it with a hammer, it might send out five to ten individuals to see what's going on. They would follow me perhaps as far as my house and I might get stung once," said Ellis. "If I did the same thing with an Africanized colony, I might get 50 to 100 individuals who would follow me much farther and I'd get more stings. It's really an issue of scale," he said. Africanized honey bees are also much more sensitive to potential threats. "You could be mowing a lawn a few houses away and just the vibrations will set them off," Rangel said. There are multiple reports of people cutting into colonies when trimming trees, clearing brush or doing landscaping. In some cases tree trimmers set off an attack merely by throwing a rope over a branch. In toxicology, researchers speak of the LD50, the lethal dose required to kill 50% of those exposed to it, said Rangel. For honeybee stings, it's calculated at about 9 stings per pound of weight. So half of people who weigh 150 pounds might die if they got 1,350 stings. That's unlikely with Western honey bees, but can happen with Africanized bees. In 2022, an Ohio man suffered 20,000 bee stings when cutting tree branches. He survived but only after being put in a medically-induced coma. What states have Africanized honeybees? At least 13 state have reported Africanized honeybees. In the south, southern Florida has the highest numbers. "From Tampa to Orlando to Daytona, south of that a large percentage of the feral bee population are of African decent. North of that we don't have much," said Ellis. Africanized bees have also been reported in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi, though they don't seem to thrive in those wetter environments as much. The bees have found a natural home in the Southwest, in part because the landscape is much like the arid and semi-arid parts of Africa they're originally from. Feral colonies are common in southern California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and especially Texas. They've also been seen in southwest Arkansas, southern Utah and about two-thirds of Oklahoma, said Szalanski. Where did killer bees get their killer instincts? There are around 20,000 species of bees on the planet and only 12 of them are honey bees. Of those, 11 are found in Asia and only one in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. It is called Apis mellifera, the Western honey bee, said Jamie Ellis, a professor of honey bee research at the University of Florida. There are multiple subspecies of Apis mellifera. It was one of these, the East African lowland honey bee (Apis mellifera scutellata), that was imported to Brazil in the 1950s. In the areas where East African lowland honey bees live, they have many predators so they've evolved to be more defensive, said Ellis. "They're not really aggressive, they're not just looking for a fight," he said. "They're just trying to communicate that, 'You are too close to us. We don't want you here – go away.'" That can feel pretty scary when they're coming after you, said Rangel. She's done research on bees in Belize, where people keep hives far from their homes and livestock and put on their protective beekeeping clothing in their trucks before getting out near a hive. "They can pursue you in your vehicle for a mile," she said "The only thing preventing them from killing you is the veil. It's like a cloud of bees that all want to sting you. It's scary." How did Africanized honey bees get to the United States? Africanized honeybees are a cross between Western honey bees, from Europe and the East African lowland honey bee. They first occurred in 1956, when a prominent Brazilian geneticist, Warwick Kerr, brought African bees to Brazil to hybridize them with Western honey bees from Europe, which didn't do well there. His plan was to breed bees that were better adapted to Brazil's climate while retaining the gentleness and high honey-producing traits of the Western honey bees. He didn't get the chance. A year later, 26 Africanized queen bees were accidentally released into a nearby forest, where they thrived, said Kirk Visscher, an emeritus professor of entomology at the University of California, Riverside. "The beekeeping industry in those areas is now far more vital than it was – they just have mean bees," he said. That hybrid between the two subspecies, called Africanized honey bees, began to make its way north, arriving in south Texas in 1990. "They spread a lot quicker than what people thought was possible. They never thought they could get from Brazil to Texas in a span of less than 40 years," said Allen Szalanski, a professor of entomology at the University of Arkansas. "But they did." The two bee subspecies are impossible to differentiate without either DNA analysis or careful observation of their wing vein patterns. It is their behavior that sets them apart. Most of the danger is from feral hives in the wild. Beekeepers carefully manage their hives to keep Africanized queens out. Because bees are so critical to agriculture, the movement of bees is regulated in many states. Most have a bee inspector to oversee the process. Currently a total of 38 states regulate the movement of honey bees within the United States and require a permit or health certificate to do so. Four states, Arizona, Kansas, North Dakota and Oregon, have no regulations on the movement of bees, according to research published in 2022. Another eight states have no regulations requiring permits or health certificates for the interstate movement of bees. Africanized honey bees aren't all bad Scientists who study bees emphasize that while Africanized honey bees are more defensive, they hold a lot of promise for overall honey bee health because they're more pest and disease resistant and are very genetically diverse. That's important because honey bees play a critical role in agriculture and the environment and have been subject to large die-offs in the past two decades. In 2017, one-third of the nation's hives perished. Breeding and even gene manipulation could result in better – and gentler – bees, said Ellis. "Although they have heightened defensive behaviors, science may be able to maximize their positive traits and minimize their negative traits," he said. What should you do if you encounter an Africanized honeybee hive? Because of their highly defensive nature, if you encounter aggressive bees, the best response is to leave – fast. "Get away as quickly as possible. Don't jump in water, don't swat with your arms. Just run away as as fast as you can," said Ellis. "You might want to pull your shirt up around your nose and mouth to protect against stings that could cause swelling of your airway." In general, the biggest threats are to tethered or penned livestock and pets that can't get away as well as humans using heavy equipment who accidentally get too close to a hive without being able to hear the angry buzzing of the bees. Once you've evacuated the area, call for professional help. "If you're in a rural area, it's very likely these bees have been Africanized," said Rangel. Nobody should try to deal with a colony on their own "just to save a few bucks," she said. "You don't want to mess with them."
a day ago
How targeting Iran's nuclear facilities could impact the environment
The destruction of uranium enrichment sites that support Iran's nuclear program would not likely have severe environmental consequences, several nuclear experts told ABC News. Israel has stated that its attack on Iran is aimed at destroying its capabilities of producing nuclear weapons, alleging that the uranium enrichment sites within Iran are producing materials to make a nuclear weapon. Facilities across Iran range from those extracting uranium to processing facilities where the uranium is transformed into the right chemical form before it goes through the process of enrichment -- or increasing the quantity or concentration, Kathryn Ann Higley, distinguished professor of nuclear science and engineering at Oregon State University and president of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements, told ABC News. "Iran would deny that those are nuclear weapon facilities," Matthew Bunn, who leads nuclear policy research at Harvard University, told ABC News. "They're nuclear facilities for sure. Iran claims they're for producing civilian fuel." The enrichment sites are located in Fordo, deep inside a mountain in northwestern Iran, and in Natanz -- which was targeted by military strikes last week. Other facilities targeted include the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center, used for metallic uranium production, and the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. Israel confirmed that they struck Isfahan again Friday night, targeting centrifuge production areas. While the conflict is concerning, radioactivity as a result of the military strikes is not a top concern, nuclear experts say. "There's plenty to worry about in the Iran-Israel war, but the release of radioactivity is not one of them," Lee Berstein, a professor in the nuclear engineering department at the University of California, Berkeley, told ABC News. Uranium isn't radioactive enough to present a widespread threat The sites targeted so far in Iran contain centrifuges that spin really fast and separate and enrich uranium into a higher grade, Emily A. Caffrey, director for the Health Physics Program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, told ABC News. However, the rule of thumb with radioactive materials is, the longer the half life, the less dangerous it tends to be in the short-term, Berstein said. But even materials with long half-lives can be hazardous over longer periods of time. The half life of Uranium-235 is more than 700 million years, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There is radiological and chemical contamination at the Natanz facility, where an above-ground portion of the fuel enrichment plant was damaged after a military strike on June 13, International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Grossi told the United Nations Security Council on Friday. The facility likely contained canisters of uranium hexafluoride gas that was released into the environment as a large gas cloud once it was hit, Caffrey said. Uranium hexafluoride is the main risk stemming from the uranium enrichment sites, Di Fulvio said. The gas results from the separating of uranium that is essentially a "precursor" of nuclear fuel. But those gas clouds do not have the ability to cause long-term contamination or radioactive issues, Caffrey said. "It's just a big, heavy gas molecule, so it's not going to go very far," Caffrey said. Enrichment operates at very low pressure, almost near-vacuum pressure, Bunn said, adding that the centrifuges themselves have very little uranium hexafluoride. The canisters would contain the majority of the gas. While there is destruction at multiple sites -- including Natanz, Isfahan and Arak as well as sites in Tehran -- there are no sites where radiological activity has been identified outside facilities, Grossi said. No radiation leaks were reported at Natanz during previous incidents in which the facility sustained damage in 2020 and 2021 -- the latter being a cyber attack, said Angela Di Fulvio, an associate professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and director of the Arms Control Domestic and International Security Program. How far radiation spreads from any particular release depends on the weather -- wind in particular, but also rain, Bunn said. If hexafluoride interacts with water, it can create hydrofluoric acid, causing some chemical issues but not radioactive ones, Caffrey said. "There are a lot of countries that have borders on the Persian Gulf that would not want to see the water in the Gulf contaminated by clouds of radioactive particles blowing in the wind passing over the coasts," said John Erath, senior policy director of the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. However, uranium hexafluoride appears to be confined within the facilities that were targeted and is manageable with appropriate procedures and safety precautions, Di Fulvio said. Over time, the leaked uranium hexafluoride would get diluted and diffuse out of the environment, Higley said. How does exposure to uranium affect the human body If ingested or inhaled, uranium hexafluoride gas -- in which each of the molecules has six fluorine atoms -- can cause kidney damage, Caffrey said. Atoms combined with a heavy metal can be a "really toxic substance," but usually in large quantities, Bunn said. "You would need to inhale or imbibe a humongous amount of it into your body in order for there to be any effect," Berstein said. The danger isn't radioactivity but rather the heavy metals, Bernstein said. Another 'Chernobyl' situation is unlikely, experts say The 1986 nuclear disaster at Chernobyl likely wouldn't be replicated, even if one of the nuclear reactors in Iran were targeted by military strikes, the experts said. "The Chernobyl disaster was a very special event that was a result of a really badly designed power plant," Bernstein said. Israel and the U.S. are likely being very cognizant of avoiding the nuclear reactors due to the potential disaster that could result if they are hit, Erath said. Nuclear reactors are also now solidly built and would require a large amount of fire power -- such as the U.S. military's massive bunker-buster bombs -- to cause an explosion, the experts said. One of the factors that exacerbated the Chernobyl disaster was a design flaw within the nuclear reactor that exploded, Bernstein said, adding that the design is no longer used. Striking Iran's nuclear reactors -- used to generate nuclear power -- wouldn't release nearly as much radioactive material as Chernobyl, the experts said. The Khondab reactor was under construction and did not contain fuel or other nuclear materials when it was hit on Thursday, according to the IAEA. The Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, a 1,000-megawatt facility built by Russia, has also been a focus of recent concern, Di Fulvio said. Expulsion of radioactive materials from Bushehr could result from one of three ways: a direct hit by a rocket or missile; damage to the pool of water where spent fuel, the radioactive nuclear fuel that has been removed after it has generated electricity, is stored for cooling; and if the electricity supplied to the plant is interrupted and the plant loses all backup means to generate electricity, M.V. Ramana, a physicist and professor at the University of British Columbia's school of public policy and global affairs, told ABC News. "Although the Israeli military might not be deliberately targeting Bushehr, it is a possibility given the extensive bombing that Iran has been subject to," Ramana said. Grossi warned that the Bushehr nuclear facility might be hit, saying that this would be, "the nuclear site in Iran where the consequences of an attack could be most serious." "It is an operating nuclear power plant and as such it hosts thousands of kilograms of nuclear material, Grossi said. This plant is used for energy production and not for uranium enrichment, Di Fulvio said. Iran is required to return spent fuel rods from Bushehr back to Russia when they are safe for transport.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
How targeting Iran's nuclear facilities could impact the environment
The destruction of uranium enrichment sites that support Iran's nuclear program would not likely have severe environmental consequences, several nuclear experts told ABC News. Israel has stated that its attack on Iran is aimed at destroying its capabilities of producing nuclear weapons, alleging that the uranium enrichment sites within Iran are producing materials to make a nuclear weapon. Facilities across Iran range from those extracting uranium to processing facilities where the uranium is transformed into the right chemical form before it goes through the process of enrichment -- or increasing the quantity or concentration, Kathryn Ann Higley, distinguished professor of nuclear science and engineering at Oregon State University and president of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements, told ABC News. "Iran would deny that those are nuclear weapon facilities," Matthew Bunn, who leads nuclear policy research at Harvard University, told ABC News. "They're nuclear facilities for sure. Iran claims they're for producing civilian fuel." The enrichment sites are located in Fordo, deep inside a mountain in northwestern Iran, and in Natanz -- which was targeted by military strikes last week. Other facilities targeted include the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center, used for metallic uranium production, and the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. Israel confirmed that they struck Isfahan again Friday night, targeting centrifuge production areas. While the conflict is concerning, radioactivity as a result of the military strikes is not a top concern, nuclear experts say. "There's plenty to worry about in the Iran-Israel war, but the release of radioactivity is not one of them," Lee Berstein, a professor in the nuclear engineering department at the University of California, Berkeley, told ABC News. MORE: Bombing Iran's underground Fordo nuclear plant might not be effective, one expert says The sites targeted so far in Iran contain centrifuges that spin really fast and separate and enrich uranium into a higher grade, Emily A. Caffrey, director for the Health Physics Program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, told ABC News. However, the rule of thumb with radioactive materials is, the longer the half life, the less dangerous it tends to be in the short-term, Berstein said. But even materials with long half-lives can be hazardous over longer periods of time. The half life of Uranium-235 is more than 700 million years, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There is radiological and chemical contamination at the Natanz facility, where an above-ground portion of the fuel enrichment plant was damaged after a military strike on June 13, International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Grossi told the United Nations Security Council on Friday. The facility likely contained canisters of uranium hexafluoride gas that was released into the environment as a large gas cloud once it was hit, Caffrey said. Uranium hexafluoride is the main risk stemming from the uranium enrichment sites, Di Fulvio said. The gas results from the separating of uranium that is essentially a "precursor" of nuclear fuel. But those gas clouds do not have the ability to cause long-term contamination or radioactive issues, Caffrey said. "It's just a big, heavy gas molecule, so it's not going to go very far," Caffrey said. Enrichment operates at very low pressure, almost near-vacuum pressure, Bunn said, adding that the centrifuges themselves have very little uranium hexafluoride. The canisters would contain the majority of the gas. While there is destruction at multiple sites -- including Natanz, Isfahan and Arak as well as sites in Tehran -- there are no sites where radiological activity has been identified outside facilities, Grossi said. MORE: Climate change could unearth, disturb Cold War-era nuclear waste buried by the US, officials say No radiation leaks were reported at Natanz during previous incidents in which the facility sustained damage in 2020 and 2021 -- the latter being a cyber attack, said Angela Di Fulvio, an associate professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and director of the Arms Control Domestic and International Security Program. How far radiation spreads from any particular release depends on the weather -- wind in particular, but also rain, Bunn said. If hexafluoride interacts with water, it can create hydrofluoric acid, causing some chemical issues but not radioactive ones, Caffrey said. "There are a lot of countries that have borders on the Persian Gulf that would not want to see the water in the Gulf contaminated by clouds of radioactive particles blowing in the wind passing over the coasts," said John Erath, senior policy director of the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. However, uranium hexafluoride appears to be confined within the facilities that were targeted and is manageable with appropriate procedures and safety precautions, Di Fulvio said. Over time, the leaked uranium hexafluoride would get diluted and diffuse out of the environment, Higley said. MORE: Chernobyl nuclear disaster altered the genetics of the dogs left behind, scientists say If ingested or inhaled, uranium hexafluoride gas -- in which each of the molecules has six fluorine atoms -- can cause kidney damage, Caffrey said. Atoms combined with a heavy metal can be a "really toxic substance," but usually in large quantities, Bunn said. "You would need to inhale or imbibe a humongous amount of it into your body in order for there to be any effect," Berstein said. The danger isn't radioactivity but rather the heavy metals, Bernstein said. MORE: Experts predict lasting environmental damage from Russia's invasion of Ukraine The 1986 nuclear disaster at Chernobyl likely wouldn't be replicated, even if one of the nuclear reactors in Iran were targeted by military strikes, the experts said. "The Chernobyl disaster was a very special event that was a result of a really badly designed power plant," Bernstein said. Israel and the U.S. are likely being very cognizant of avoiding the nuclear reactors due to the potential disaster that could result if they are hit, Erath said. Nuclear reactors are also now solidly built and would require a large amount of fire power -- such as the U.S. military's massive bunker-buster bombs -- to cause an explosion, the experts said. One of the factors that exacerbated the Chernobyl disaster was a design flaw within the nuclear reactor that exploded, Bernstein said, adding that the design is no longer used. Striking Iran's nuclear reactors -- used to generate nuclear power -- wouldn't release nearly as much radioactive material as Chernobyl, the experts said. The Khondab reactor was under construction and did not contain fuel or other nuclear materials when it was hit on Thursday, according to the IAEA. The Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, a 1,000-megawatt facility built by Russia, has also been a focus of recent concern, Di Fulvio said. MORE: Concerns mount over conflict in Chernobyl exclusion zone Expulsion of radioactive materials from Bushehr could result from one of three ways: a direct hit by a rocket or missile; damage to the pool of water where spent fuel, the radioactive nuclear fuel that has been removed after it has generated electricity, is stored for cooling; and if the electricity supplied to the plant is interrupted and the plant loses all backup means to generate electricity, M.V. Ramana, a physicist and professor at the University of British Columbia's school of public policy and global affairs, told ABC News. "Although the Israeli military might not be deliberately targeting Bushehr, it is a possibility given the extensive bombing that Iran has been subject to," Ramana said. Grossi warned that the Bushehr nuclear facility might be hit, saying that this would be, "the nuclear site in Iran where the consequences of an attack could be most serious." "It is an operating nuclear power plant and as such it hosts thousands of kilograms of nuclear material, Grossi said. This plant is used for energy production and not for uranium enrichment, Di Fulvio said. Iran is required to return spent fuel rods from Bushehr back to Russia when they are safe for transport. The consequences of attacking the Tehran Nuclear Research Reactor would be amplified by the high-density population of Tehran, Di Fulvio said.
