Good Germs

WBZ's Jordan Rich says E. Coli bacteria can generate electricity!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to the upside with Jordan Adose of good news, because it is
a big world out there. Whenyou hear the term E. Coli bacteria,
beware not good, but listen tothis. Scientists have managed to generate
electricity from the deadly bacteria in anew breakthrough study. The study team engineered
the bacteria to make them highly efficientelectric microbes in a process that creates electric

(00:22):
current with up to three times morepunch than the conventional processes of current generation.
They've been testing things in environments suchas brewery wastewater. Unlike other exotic
bacteria, E. Coli thrives andthey create electricity while metabolizing. What use
you say, might these have certainlylarge scale wastewater treatment, but also in
fuel cells, creating a source ofsustainable energy. The lead author of the

(00:45):
study, doctoral assistant Mohammed Muhib,put it this way. With all the
current research efforts, we are excitedabout the future of bioelectric bacteria and can't
wait to push this technology into newscales. And that's the upside with Jordan
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