Jones wrote,
Dust off your 3-D glasses, Ray-ban boys...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_Came_From_Outer_Space
Fifty years ago, scientists experimenting with gamma radiation to
sterilize foods (gourmet sea-rats for out troops in hostile lands, aka
C-rations) were surprised to find spoiled meat in cans zapped with what
they thought were lethal levels of radiation.
Any hungry PFC in Nam coulda told them that... Anyway, the boffins
discovered a strain of bacteria now called Deinococcus radiodurans which
can endure 100 times the rad levels that kill other bacteria and levels
2,000 times higher than the lethal human dose.
http://www.rxpgnews.com/bacteriology/The_Strange_Case_of_the_Radiation-Resistant_Bacteria_21161.shtml
How and why would such a bacteria would have evolved that trait on earth
is one of the most 'pregnant' questions ever to have faced so-called
'creation scientists' (what a bunch of oxy-morons!), but anyway
Bob-Jones-U grads are overly challenged to focus on sea-rats.
Radiation resistant bacteria are one of nature's oddities, and there is
the slight possibility that they evolved, NOT for earthy survival at all,
since there are so few local spots where that trait would be of benefit.
They are not even the primary bacteria found in uranium deposits.
A surprising lesson to be learned from this and other fairy tales (spider
avoidance): eat your 'curds and whey'...
Many resistant bacteria have high manganese concentrations and for
whatever reason, some of these strains are 'milkers' ...Lactobacillus
plantarum ... for instance, is found in some yogurts, and release hydrogen
peroxide as a product of the reactions that neutralize superoxide
radicals, while sensitive and non-irradiated resistant bacteria do not.
The researchers went on to show that the resistance of normal D.
radiodurans can be controlled externally by inhibiting manganese redox
recycling.
All very interesting for the Bio-Mimic... and/or bug-eradicator in all of
us.
Howdy Jones,
We wrestle daily with the variants of water disinfection. After many years
in the business, we recognze how little we humans actually understand about
bacteria and virus as they relate to treating wastewater. About the time we
engage the two critter families in battle, along comes steroids, birth
control pills, antibiotics and all strange and wierd medicines, enhancers,
etc that are entering our rivers, lakes and coastal waters. Some attribute
global warming solely to human actions but the Gulf of Mexico off New
Orleans is becoming a cesspool drain from the Mississippi.
We labor daily toward treatment processes and admit we are falling behind
the curve.. It is going to take some radical new science to gain an
advantage. My hope continues to be toward LENR as a technology that has far
reaching applications beyond becoming merely an energy source.
Richard
