Starving microorganisms capable of surviving in extreme conditions have already managed to “eat” a nail in just three days.
In Chile, a scientist is testing “metal-eating” bacteria she hopes could help clean up the country’s highly-polluting mining industry.
In her laboratory in Antofagasta, an industrial town 1,100-kilometers north of Santiago, 33-year-old biotechnologist Nadac Reales has been carrying out tests with extremophiles — organisms that live in extreme environments.
Reales came up with her idea while still at university as she was conducting tests at a mining plant using microorganisms to improve the extraction of copper.
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“I realized there were various needs in the mining industry, for example what happened with the metallic waste,” she told AFP.
Some metals can be recycled in smelting plants but others, such as HGV truck hoppers that can hold 50 tons of rock, cannot and are often discarded in Chile’s Atacama desert, home to the majority of the country’s mining industry.
Chile is the world’s largest producer of copper, which accounts for up to 15 percent of the country’s GDP, resulting in a lot of mining waste that pollutes the environment.
In her research, Reales, who now runs her own company Rudanac Biotec, concentrated on iron-oxidizing bacteria called Leptospirillum.
She extracted the bacteria from the Tatio geysers located 4,200 meters above sea level, some 350 kilometers from Antofagasta.
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The bacteria “live in an acidic environment that is practically unaffected by relatively high concentrations of most metals,” she said.
“At first the bacteria took two months to disintegrate a nail.”
But when starved, they had to adapt and find a way of feeding themselves.
After two years of trials, the result was a marked increase in the speed at which the bacteria “ate,” devouring a nail in just three days.
– Surprising benefit –
Reales says “chemical and microbiological tests” have proved the bacteria are not harmful to humans or the environment.
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“We’ve always seen a lot of potential in this project that has already passed an important test in the laboratory,” said Drina Vejar, a microbiologist who is part of a four-person team working with Reales.
“It’s really necessary at this time when we have to plan for a more sustainable development, especially in all these cities with so many polluting industries.”
Mining companies have shown interest in the research but while Rudanac Biotec previously benefitted from a state fund for start-ups, the company needs investment to move on to its next stage of trials.
Reales says she needs money to see if her method will “eat a medium sized beam or a hopper.”
When the disintegration process is complete, what remains is a reddish liquid residue, a solution known as a lixiviant that itself possesses a surprising quality.
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“After biodisintegration the product generated (the liquid) can improve the recovery of copper in a process called hydrometallurgy,” said Reales.
Essentially, the liquid residue can be used to extract copper from rock in a more sustainable manner than the current use of chemicals in leaching.
Reales says it means green mining is “totally feasible.”
That is of great interest to mining companies that could use it to improve their large scale extraction of copper or other minerals, while also reducing their pollution, something they are required to do by law.
Reales recently submitted a request for an international patent for her technology, but more importantly she hopes it will help reduce metal waste blotting the landscape in the mining regions of her country.
Colombian Senator Uribe Turbay, shows clinical improvement and begins neurological rehabilitation
Colombian senator and presidential candidate Miguel Uribe Turbay, seriously injured in the head in an attack on June 7, has had a clinical improvement and a process of neurological rehabilitation began, reported this Monday the Santa Fe Foundation of Bogotá, where he has been hospitalized since then.
“During the last few days the patient has shown a favorable and stable clinical response, evidenced both in the recent diagnostic images taken (magnetic resonance, tomography, Doppler, among others), and in his response to surgical and medical interventions,” says the medical report.
According to the Santa Fe Foundation, “in this context, and as part of the comprehensive care process, the neurorehabilitation protocol was initiated.”
The medical report, the first disclosed by the Santa Fe Foundation in the last eleven days, points out, however, that the 39-year-old politician continues with a “reserved” neurological prognosis.
“Miguel Uribe Turbay requires continuing his management in the Intensive Care Unit, with mechanical ventilatory support and under sedation, as well as with hemodynamic and neurological monitoring for the early detection of any change,” the statement adds.
Uribe Turbay, a member of the right-wing Democratic Center party, was shot twice in the head and one in the left leg when he was leading a rally in a park in the Bogota neighborhood of Modelia, an attack that has revived among Colombians the ghost of political violence that marked the 1990 elections in which three presidential candidates were killed.
Due to the severity of the injuries suffered, the politician, one of the candidates of the Democratic Center for the 2026 presidential elections, has undergone several surgeries in Santa Fe.
The authorities, for their part, have made some progress in the investigation of the attack, for which five people have been arrested, including the hit man who shot him, a 15-year-old boy who was found with a Glock pistol used in the attack.
The other four detainees have been accused by the Prosecutor’s Office of participating in the preparation and cover-up of the attack, and among them is Elder José Arteaga Hernández, alias ‘el Costeño’, considered by the authorities as a key piece for being the alleged organizer of the attempted murder.
Zelenski proposes the Minister of Economy, Sviridenko, as the new prime minister
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky proposed on Monday the current Minister of Economy, Yulia Sviridenko, as the new prime minister to replace the current head of government, Denis Shmigal.
“I have proposed that Yulia Sviridenko lead the Government of Ukraine and significantly renew her work. I look forward to the presentation of the new Government action plan in the near future,” Zelenski wrote in X after meeting with Sviridenko.
The Ukrainian president spoke with the current Minister of Economy about “concrete measures to double Ukraine’s economic potential, to expand support programs for Ukrainians and to increase domestic weapons production.”
Zelenski and Sviridenko also reviewed the economic agreements signed by Ukraine at the international conference for the reconstruction of the country held in Rome on Thursday and last Friday.
Several Ukrainian media had advanced weeks ago that Sviridenko would soon replace Denis Shmigal as prime minister. At the head of the Economy portfolio, Sviridenko, 39, has been one of the most visible and active figures in the Government in recent months.
Zelenski talks to Kellogg in Kiev about sanctions against Russia and the sale of weapons to Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke on Monday with the special representative for Ukraine of the White House, retired General Keith Kellogg, about the possibility of the US approving new sanctions against Russia and sending new weapons to Ukrainians that would be paid for with European money.
“We have talked about the road to peace and what we can do together from a practical point of view so that it is closer. This includes strengthening Ukraine’s air defense, joint production and acquisition of defensive weapons in collaboration with Europe,” Zelenski wrote in X about the content of the meeting.
The Ukrainian president also mentioned “sanctions against Russia and those who help it” among the actions with which the United States can contribute to ending the war.
“We have hope in the leadership of the United States, because it is clear that Moscow will never stop if its ambitions, which are not reasonable, are not put to a hold of force,” Zelenski also wrote, who thanked Kellogg for visiting Ukraine and also showed his appreciation for the “important signs of support and positive decisions for both countries” that the US president has made public in recent days.
Kellogg has arrived in Kiev this Monday to spend this week in Ukraine and meet with local leaders. His visit comes after Trump has confirmed that he will send Patriot missile anti-aircraft systems to Ukraine for which several European countries will pay.
Trump has also recently been very critical of the attitude of Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom he reproaches for not intending to take down his arms despite the pro-peace messages that the Kremlin leader has been launching since the US began its efforts to mediate a negotiated solution to the conflict.
