Putting Bacteria to Work

General
Carlson, Robert H. 2010. Biology Is Technology: The Promise, Peril, and New Business of Engineering Life. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Fumento, Michael. 2003. Bioevolution: How Biotechnology Is Changing Our World. San Francisco: Encounter Books.

Grace, Eric S. 1997. Biotechnology Unzipped. Washington, D.C.: Joseph Henry Press.

Virtual Museum of Bacteria. A website of the Foundation of Bacteriology and the Society for Applied Microbiology. www.bacteriamuseum.org/

Fermenting foods
Wassenaar, Dr. T.M. 2005. "Good bacteria in food." From the Virtual Museum of Bacteria website. 8 March 2005. http://bacteriamuseum.org/cms/Food-And-Water-Safety/good-bacteria-in-food.html

Making lumber
Chung, Sandra. 2010. "INL scientists help harness bacteria power to brew eco-friendly plastic from waste." Idaho National Laboratory press article, 11 October 2010. https://inlportal.inl.gov/portal/server.pt?open=514&objID=1269&mode=2&featurestory=DA_561588

Aiding medicine
Anonymous. 2009. "Genetically engineered bacteria are sweet success against inflammatory bowel disease." ScienceDaily, 21 August 2009. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090820204456.htm

Anonymous. 2005. "Bacteria modified to combat HIV." BBC News, 13 November 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4692905.stm

Venere, Emil. 2007. "Bacteria ferry nanoparticles into cells for early diagnosis, treatment." Purdue University press release, 13 June 2007. http://news.uns.purdue.edu/x/2007a/070613BashirSmartnano.html

Advancing nanotech
Anonymous. 2008. "Putting bacteria to work as tiny weavers of nanoscale biomaterials." Nanotechnology website, 11 November 2008. www.azonano.com/news.asp?newsID=8590

Fountain, Henry. 2009. "Working as a team, bacteria spin gears." The New York Times, 22 December 2009. www.nytimes.com/2009/12/22/science/22obgear.html

Powering fuel cells
Anonymous. 2009. "Harnessing bacterial production of nanomagnets." Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory press release, 30 September 2009. www.als.lbl.gov/als/science/sci_archive/193nanomagnets.html

Producing biofuels
Biello, David. 2010. "Biofuel from bacteria." Scientific American, April 2010, 21-22. www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=biofuel-from-bacteria

Steen, Eric J. et al. 2010. "Microbial production of fatty-acid-derived fuels and chemicals from biomass." Nature: 463, 559-562, 28 January 2010. www.nature.com/nature/journal/v463/n7280/abs/nature08721.html

Cleaning oil spills
Biello, David. 2010. "Slick solution: How microbes will clean up the Deepwater Horizon oil spill." Scientific American, 25 May 2010. www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-microbes-clean-up-oil-spills

Images:

(Fermenting foods)

© Olga Nayashkova/iStockphoto

(Combatting pests)

© Tomas Bercic/iStockphoto

(Making lumber)

© Christopher O Driscoll/iStockphoto

(Aiding medicine)

© Rey Rojo/iStockphoto

(Serving science)

© dra_schwartz/iStockphoto

(Advancing nanotech)

© Guillermo Lobo/iStockphoto

(Powering fuel cells)

© Chiara Levi/iStockphoto

(Producing biofuels)

© Linde Stewart/iStockphoto

(Cleaning oil spills)

© Danny Hooks/iStockphoto

(Eating waste)

© AVTG/iStockphoto

(Mining minerals)

© Arno Massee/iStockphoto