I Created an Oil Spill in My House

Bacteria are often painted as our adversaries, but when it comes to oil spills, toxic chemicals, and radioactive waste, they could be what save us from ourselves.

#microbes #bacteria #oilspills

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Credits:
Executive Producers:
George Zaidan
Hilary Hudson

Producers:
Elaine Seward
Andrew Sobey
Darren Weaver

Writer/Host:
Sam Jones, PhD

Scientific consultants:
Michelle Boucher, PhD
Paige Novak, PhD,
Brianne Raccor, PhD
Gemma Reguera, PhD

Sources:
Deepwater Horizon – BP Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill

Bacteria used to clean at-home oil spill (video demo)

We still don’t know all of the impacts of the BP oil spill

Adaptive synthesis of a rough lipopolysaccharide in Geobacter sulfurreducens for metal reduction and detoxification

A review in the current developments of genus Dehalococcoides, its consortia and kinetics for bioremediation options of contaminated groundwater

Degradation of Deepwater Horizon oil buried in a Florida beach influenced by tidal pumping

Diverse, rare microbial taxa responded to the Deepwater Horizon deep-sea hydrocarbon plume

Computer modeling could help chlorine-hungry bacteria break down toxic waste

How Microbes Clean Up Our Environmental Messes

Extracellular reduction of uranium via Geobacter conductive pili as a protective cellular mechanism

Characterization of mercury bioremediation by transgenic bacteria expressing metallothionein and polyphosphate kinase

It looks like microbes can help clean up mining pollution

Breathing' bacteria clean up toxic waste: Civil engineering professor Paige Novak and her colleagues rise to the challenge

Microbial communities clean toxic waste and generate useful chemicals

Deepwater Horizon and the Rise of the Omics

These bacteria clean up radioactive waste

Cleaning Up Electronic Waste (E-Waste)

Risk Management for Trichloroethylene (TCE)

Meet the Microbes Eating the Gulf Oil Spill [Slide Show]

Radiation-eating bacteria could make nuclear waste safer

Electrified Bacterial Filaments Remove Uranium from Groundwater

Molecular structure of different petroleum hydrocarbon representatives

Anaerobic Oxidation of Ethane, Propane, and Butane by Marine Microbes: A Mini Review

Petroleum Hydrocarbon-Degrading Bacteria for the Remediation of Oil Pollution Under Aerobic Conditions: A Perspective Analysis

[kamrankhalil]

you teach the chemistry in interesting ways by choosing the examples of everyday life. Please keep making such interesting videos and explorer the chemical phenomenon occurring in our nature. you do a great job. Thanks

[forabug]

Currently doing a chemical ecology project on the oil cleanup by bacteria in the Gulf of Mexico! Glad to see you bringing this topic to the public and doing a fantastic job communicating about it! I’m curious, what bacteria did you buy? They could have also been producing emulsifiers to break up the oil into smaller droplets.
Edit: Read the link in your description about the powdered microbe product you used. Turns out it’s a classified mix or consortium of not just bacteria but archaea too! Pretty neat!

[floresarts]

I remember that bioremediation was seen as a promising response to oil spills at least as far back as 1989 for land-based cleanup (Exxon Valdez spill) and in open water conditions in 1990 (Mega Borg tanker spill in Texas). TBH I'm discouraged that after at least 30 years, microbial cleanup has never been adopted (or further tested?) by governments as part of an oil spill cleanup plan.

[MrXdeDEdex]

Bacteria that has evolved to obtain energy from Uranium is crazy. I'd be interested to see that process in action along with the actual equations that make it possible.

[jugzster]

You make chemistry highly interesting, thanks!

[Ice_Karma]

2:27 I *_love_* how the bottle of archaea looks like a spice bottle!

[rohitreddy]

What a cool way to learn chemistry❤️❤️ clarity .

[drishtantsen]

Wow!
Missed the videos...
Great one.
This microbe idea has been around for years now....why isn't the government using these methods in a test pool or something?

[Pwndbythnb]

What happens when these microbes become the norm because they get heavily selected for. For example bacteria/fungi that is able to break down plastic in landfills. What happens when they start breaking down plastic in the grocery store, in machinery, etc.

[jeffhochheimer]

Left-over bacteria? Be careful not to put that shaker in the same cabinet as the spices. That might make for an interesting dinner...

[nahdahayatillah]

what is the name of the bacterial product in the bottle?

[平和-vz]

Great video, very interesting experiment!

[MagaMusketeers]

I love hearing bacteria do good things😂

[Hanshuber]

Hi Samantha. I love watching the video you make as you have a knack for making whatever you share with us fun to learn! I have two questions: how does the harmful and ionizing gamma radiations from the radioactive Uranium not kill the bacteria to begin with? Also when it comes to oil spills, is there any other way in which they could be cleaned without releasing a bunch of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere? Thanks for the awesome video. <3

[sarahu.]

7:01 Did you stir the one without the bacteria? You vigorously stirred the one with bacteria, which could have broken up the oil, so I'm wondering if you did the same to the other container?

[seanc]

Uh bacteria consuming oil and producing CO2 is kind of like saying that setting the oil on fire is "cleaning it up".

[sethapex]

how are these uranium absorbing lipid polysacarides produced? could we engineer algae with them?

[sebastienguenette]

Have you heard of Mycofiltration for soft water? and if so is it any good?

[AdityaMehendale]

"Pretty solid experiment" would not be my choice of words. What about you, Dr. Jones?

[matthewbaynham]

I'm a very skeptical type of person.

This video seems to have the solution for major disasters to just clean up themselves.

I can just feel that skepticism just coming out of me. This is just too easy.