Bioremediation - Can Microbes Help Save the Planet?

You might have heard that our planet isn't doing so well right now. When certain things get into the environment where they aren't supposed to go, they become dangerous. That is pollution. There are different kinds of pollution. Two examples are plastic and oil. If plastic and oil get somewhere they aren't supposed to be, like into the sea or ocean, they can make people and animals very sick. Plastic gets into water bodies like seas, oceans, lakes or rivers. If a fish swallows plastic, that hurts them. If a person goes fishing and eats a fish that swallowed plastic, that isn't good for them either. Oil can be spilled off of a boat, or it can come out when a pipeline (a large tube used to move oil) breaks. When that happens, animals like birds, fish, or turtles get hurt or sick. Many scientists are interested in solving these problems. They want to help people and animals feel better. They do lots of different studies and experiments to find a way. Some experiments point to a group of unusual heroes that might help clean up our environment. Drum roll please...... they are the microbes.

Microbes are teeny tiny living organisms that we cannot see unless we use a microscope. They are found everywhere, even on our skin and within our bodies. Some of them are very dangerous and make people sick... but many of them are harmless or even helpful. Microbes might be tiny, but there are many of them, and they love to eat! They can eat many things that we could never eat. Two of those things are plastic and oil. When the bacteria eat the plastic or oil, they are helping take the dangerous things out of the environment so they don't hurt anyone. They are also getting a source of food that helps keep them alive. When microbes eat pollution and clean the environment, that is called bioremediation.