Word: bacterias
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...ways, producing compounds that do not exist in a natural state. These compounds are essential to such products as Pharmaceuticals, plastics,, insulation, textiles and food additives. But unlike many natural chemicals, most petrochemicals do not decay rapidly under the assault of such natural forces as bacteria, sun, wind and water. That puny plastic bottle once full of household bleach may well outlast the mighty pyramids...
...alternative approach is to expose laboratory animals or even individual cells to chemicals. Often such experiments will produce unwelcome changes-say, mutations in bacteria or bladder cancer in rats (as was the case with the animals fed huge amounts of saccharin). But what causes problems in one species may not be dangerous to another. In Michigan, researchers found that cows that licked barn wood treated with the preservative pentachlorophenol were starving to death. It turned out, explains Jerry Hook of Michigan State University's new Center for Environmental Toxicology, that "this substance is toxic to the bacteria...
...chorea to sickle-cell anemia to possibly diabetes could be cured simply by inserting the correct strip of DNA into the body's cells. So far, though, most of the genetic tinkering has been limited to transplanting genes into isolated cells in laboratory dishes or into bacteria...
...CONFUSED. But this time, the chemical in question was sodium nitrite, a preservative widely used in meat, poultry and fish. Added to $14.5 billion worth of food yearly, mostly processed items like bacon, sausages, hot dogs and cold cuts, the substance not only prevents the growth of botulism-causing bacteria but also gives these foods an appetizing pink color...
...latest tactic against the fungus pits bug against bug. Plant Pathologist Gary Strobel at Montana State University has been injecting pseudomonad bacteria into infected trees: the microbes multiply and attack the fungus. Strobel's program is still in the experimental stage, but there have been some modestly promising results. In Sioux Falls, S. Dak., for instance, injections were given to 20 badly diseased trees; seven were saved...