Bacteria can use magnetic particles to create a 'natural battery'

New research shows bacteria can use tiny magnetic particles to effectively create a 'natural battery.' According to work published in journal Science on 27 March, the bacteria can load electrons onto and discharge electrons from microscopic particles of magnetite. This discovery holds out the potential of using this mechanism to help clean up environmental pollution, and other bioengineering applications.

According to study leader Dr James Byrne (Tübingen): "The geochemistry is interesting in itself, but there are also potentially useful implications which may derive form this work. The flow of electrons is critical to the existence of all life and the fact that magnetite can be considered to be redox active opens up the possibility of bacteria being able to exist or survive in environments where other redox active compounds are in short supply in comparison to magnetite. In our study we only looked at iron metabolizing bacteria, but we speculate that it might be possible for other non-iron metabolizing organisms to use magnetite as a battery as well -- or if they can be made to use it, through genetic engineering. But this is something that we do not know yet."

Researchers from the University of Tübingen, the University of Manchester, and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, USA, incubated the soil and water dwelling purple bacteria Rhodopseudomonas palustris with magnetite and controlled the amount of light the cultures were exposed to. Using magnetic, chemical and mineralogical analytical methods, the team showed that in light conditions which replicated the day-time, phototrophic iron-oxidizing bacteria removed electrons from the magnetite, thereby discharging it. During the night-time conditions, the iron-reducing bacteria took over and were able to dump electrons back onto the magnetite and recharge it for the following cycle.

This oxidation/reduction mechanism was repeated over several cycles, meaning that the battery was used over repeated day-night cycles. Whilst this work has been on iron-metabolizing bacteria, it is thought that in the environment the potential for magnetite to act as a battery could extend to many other types of bacteria which do normally not require iron to grow, e.g. fermenters.

Co-author, Andreas Kappler (Tübingen), who is also secretary of the European Association of Geochemistry, said: "This may have some interesting geochemical applications. There has been considerable recent work on using magnetite to clean up toxic metals. For example, magnetite can reduce the toxic form of chromium, chromium VI, to the less toxic chromium (III), which can then be incorporated into a magnetite crystal. The fact that this magnetite may then be exposed to these reducing bacteria could potentially enhance its remediation capacity. But we are still at an early stage of understanding the bioengineering implications of this discovery."

Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by European Association of Geochemistry . Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

The Germanwings Investigation So Far Is Hardly Conclusive

A Germanwings plane takes off at the airport in Duesseldorf, Wednesday March 25, 2015. the day after a Germanwings aircraft crashed in France on the way from Barcelona, Spain, to Duesseldorf, Germany, killing 150 people. Frank Augstein/AP

The news coming today from French prosecutor Brice Robin regarding Monday’s crash of Germanwings Flight 9295 is shocking, but on what is it based? Surely Mr. Robin knows something he’s not sharing with the rest of us, or how could he possibly come to the conclusion that “the co-pilot wanted to destroy the aircraft”? And yet that is what he is saying based on facts that still suggest other possibilities.

The evidence so far shows first officer Andreas Lubitz deliberately flew the plane to a lower altitude. We know also that the plane wound up crashing into a mountain. The question Mr. Robin has not answered is how he knows the co-pilot had that end in mind.

Christine Negroni

About

Christine Negroni is an aviation journalist and safety specialist who is writing a book on aviation mysteries to be published by Penguin in 2016. This story first appeared on her blog.

---

We know the plane was commanded down to a lower altitude after reaching 38,000 feet. We do not yet know why.

We know the Captain, identified in web postings as Patrick Sonderheimer, left the cockpit and was unable to get back in. We do not know that he that he tried to enter using the door passcode or that the door was blocked beyond the normal locking function. All we know is that the cockpit voice recorder shows he tried to enter by knocking.

There may be reasons for trying to enter by knocking, including confusion or distraction due to alarm.

We know that the first officer Lubitz failed to heed the knocks on the door. We do not know if this was deliberate. We know Lubitz was breathing. Both his inappropriate action in not heeding the knocking on the door and his breathing is consistent with deliberate action OR incapacitation.

We know the plane descended. We do not know if this was via programming the plane to descend or flight by hand by the first officer. A conscious and lucid pilot does not fly a plane into a mountain unless it is deliberate. An addled or unconscious pilot does not see or recognize the threat of a mountain and does. Either one of those options is possible, but the evidence presented so far does not allow conclusions.

Finally, unlike in the United States and other countries, the French judicial authorities are in charge of cockpit voice recorders and flight data recorders, which then makes them available to the air safety agency the Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses. There’s a reason for this increased oversight: In the crash of an Airbus A-320 in 1988, BEA was suspected of tampering with FDR data.

As a consequence, air accidents in France are seen through the prism of criminality. In other countries seasoned air safety investigators understand there is a multitude of factors that contribute to a disaster and will wait to have all the evidence before drawing conclusions.

This is the only way I can understand how the Marseilles French prosecutor made the tremendous leap of logic in concluding that the first officer “wanted” to crash the plane killing all 150 onboard.

The evidence so far shows Lubitz deliberately flew ​the plane to a lower altitude and a crash resulted. The question not answered in anything I’ve heard or seen is whether he intended for that to happen. This is not a subtle quibble. It makes a monumental difference in what really happened to Germanwings Flight 9295.

The Internet of Making Things

The IP torque wrench. Courtesy of Plex Systems

Smart, Internet-connected “things” are showing up everywhere, changing our interactions with friends, family, colleagues, and nearly every aspect of the physical world. Internet of Things (IoT) discussions often center on the home, where your refrigerator communicates with your phone reminding you to buy milk when the carton is nearly – but not completely – empty; and your sneakers tell your watch how many calories you’ve burned in your morning workout.

While these applications are interesting and exciting, there is even more potential in the factory of the (very near) future. I like to call the emerging connections between machines, tools, materials, people and systems on the shop floor the Internet of Making Things.

Today’s factory bears little resemblance to the stereotypical image of manufacturing. Long gone are the days of repetitious assembly lines where workers create part after identical part. Today’s modern manufacturing facility is a hub of technology, full of sensors, electronic controls, and automated equipment, all interconnected to drive efficiency, quality and flexibility that are vital to a company’s success.

Productivity in American factories continues to rise, as plants produce more and more with ever increasing efficiency and quality. Connected tools and machines are a key aspect of these gains. Take the IP (Internet Protocol) torque wrench (shown above) in the assembly of a complex part, for example. When connected to the cloud, the IP torque wrench captures the torque applied to a specific part, the specific wrench that was used, when that wrench was last calibrated and the employee who used it. If that wrench was faulty in some way, the cloud can identity every part affected, eliminating costly downtime.

Automation and the connected factory are able to produce a wider variety of products and product variations in smaller quantities more quickly, answering the market’s increasing demand for customized products. The old-style “economies of scale” that powered mass-produced consumer goods are being replaced by fast, efficient and flexible connected machines that follow the exact requirements for each product at each moment of its production.

Flexible machines and programmable controllers have been around for years. What’s new is the adoption of sensors and connected devices, combined with the interconnectedness of cloud computing that increasingly coordinates information and activities to take full advantage of what these machines, and the knowledge workers who run them, can do.

The Internet of Making Things is still in its infancy. Wearable technologies have the potential to further connect people with plant information, better integrating into this connected world to further improve safety, efficiency and quality.

Within and beyond the four walls of the production facility, the shift to cloud-based software systems allows employees, suppliers and customers worldwide to view the status of an order, work-in-progress, inventory, equipment availability, and much more. In the not-too-distant future, visibility won’t stop when the product leaves the plant. Smart products will not only interact with the customer in new ways but will also be able to stay in contact with the producer for better long-term performance and support. Already available in some cars, On-Star equipped vehicle owners can get e-mails or text messages alerting them to otherwise unseen issues like tire wear, needed service based on mileage or time, or factory recommended recalls.

Connected smart technology in the Internet of Making Things brings the processes and the products together into a new ecosystem for added customer value.

Jason Prater is Vice President of Development for Plex Systems.

An Android Keyboard for People Too Lazy to Type LOL

kk. Lazyboard

When it comes to text-based communication tools, we’re experiencing a kind of Cambrian Explosion. Emoji has long gone mainstream, leading to a wave of niche Ikea emoticons and Saturday Night Live pictograms. Even this week’s New Yorker is a riff on emoji.

Amidst all this frivolous growth, it’s a welcome relief to find an app that gives you a shorthand to say what you really need to say—which, if we’re being honest, is oftentimes no more than: “kk,” or “damn.” That’s the premise of Lazyboard, an Android keyboard extension that lets you swiftly get one-tap access to all the lazy text lexicon you’re already relying on anyway.

Lazyboard

“I realized that on an off day, I type ‘k,’ ‘kk,’ ‘hmm’ and ‘lol’ more than anything else,” says developer Prem Adithya. “I also saw that these words were used in politely turning down an annoying conversation—or a conversation that I didn’t want to have with an annoying person. So then I thought, ‘Hey, what if there was a keyboard with just the essential words required to reply to people quickly?’” That became Lazyboard, a suite of canned replies such as “no,” “yeah,” “oh,” “haha,” and “cool.” The app also has a palette of sorta-kaomojis and this guy: ツ.

Adithya’s timing is hot, and not just because we’ve grown accustomed to speaking in a pictoral slang. If wrist-worn communication devices like the Apple Watch are going to be useful smartphone substitutes, they’re going to need to supply users with an easy way to stay in touch. So far, a lot of Apple’s context-sensitive predictive text offerings haven’t gotten much better than the painfully pre-packaged “On my way!” or “Talk later?” This is effectively the uncanny valley of automated texting, and no one wants to be there.

“Kk” and “cool” may be universal, but Lazyboard will soon become even more personal: Adithya is busy working on Lazyboard Pro, which will let users customize and program their own shortcuts.

Amazon’s New Unlimited Cloud Storage Is Absurdly Cheap

The steady march towards cheaper cloud storage has just turned into a sprint. Rather than being merely competitive with leaders like Google Drive, Dropbox, and iCloud, Amazon has decided to undercut their pricing by more than half. In some cases, much, much more.

Amazon’s Unlimited Everything plan means that you now can stash all of your digital stuff in your own private Amazon cloud locker for $60 per year. That’s compared to the $100 per year that individual Dropbox users pay for a plan capped at 1TB (there’s also a $15 per month unlimited plan for business accounts), $120 per year for 1TB on Google Drive, and $240 for the same amount on iCloud. Throw in Amazon’s three-month free trial offer—and consider that truly unlimited plans aren’t even an option for individual users on most rival services—and the unprecedented value of Amazon’s Unlimited Everything Plan comes more into focus.

For those who don’t need an all-you-can-store solution, Amazon has also introduced an Unlimited Photos Plan, which for $12 per year lands you, well, unlimited photo storage, as well as 5GB of space for other file types. Amazon had previously offered a 5GB per month plan for free; it’s not clear whether those customers will be transitioned over to the paid photo-friendly plan, or will be upgraded to Unlimited Photos. We’ve reached out to Amazon for clarification. (Update: Amazon has confirmed to WIRED that Amazon Prime members will continue to receive unlimited photo sharing and 5GB for free, while non-Prime members will need to choose one of the two new paid plans).

It’s hard to stress just how much these new offerings—particularly the Unlimited Everything plan—disrupt the current state of the cloud storage pricing structure. It also seems unlikely that Amazon’s competition will be able to match the pricing, or even come close. Amazon’s in a unique position, in that it’s the dominant cloud services provider. No one else comes particularly close; according to a recent study from Synergy Research Group last, the company has a remarkable 27 percent market share in the space. That’s roughly three times more than Microsoft, its closest competitor.

While most of Amazon’s customers are businesses with large, complex infrastructural needs, the company is able to leverage its massive scale to drive down consumer-facing pricing. The payoffs seem clear enough; the more people are locked into Amazon’s cloud, the more likely they’ll be to buy Amazon’s digital video and music offerings, or even a Kindle Fire tablet. Apple’s system is arguably driven by its App Store, and Google’s by its ubiquity. Amazon appears to be banking on its servers.

Despite the gaudy pricing, there are still reasons you may not want to enlist in Unlimited Everything, or Unlimited Photos. Amazon caps file uploads to 2GB apiece, which means you won’t be able to store movies or other large files there. Its user interface, like most of Amazon, can feel sloppy and unintuitive. “Unlimited” has a nice sound to it, but the majority of users currently don’t have much need for more than 1TB, if that. And perhaps most importantly, if you’re already deeply invested an an alternative provider—be it Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, iCloud, or other—all those savings still might not be worth the hassle of switching.

Still, strictly in terms of price it’s an inarguably great deal. And even if you don’t bite, it should hopefully at least drive unlimited prices down across the entire industry.

Bored on Your Commute? Try These Mobile Brain-Twisters

Bored on Your Commute? Try These Mobile Brain-Twisters

Visually Toggle Menu Visually Toggle Search Click to go back to Wired Home Page SUBSCRIBE

1 / 9

Peter + Munk

2 / 9

3 / 9

4 / 9

5 / 9

6 / 9

7 / 9

8 / 9

9 / 9

Peden + Munk

Life’s a cakewalk for a genius like you. Challenge your gray matter with these brain-racking puzzles.

Article Social: Facebook Article Social: Pinterest Article Social: Email

Cape Watch: It’s Marvel’s World, We Just Buy Tickets To It

What’s that, you say? You’d like a week filled with rumors about Marvel properties, whether they’re actual Marvel movies, Fox’s X-Men series or Sony’s Spider-Man reboot? Well, step right up, dear reader, because that’s exactly what we have in store of you this time around. Take a powder, DC fans, because the highlights of this week’s superhero movie news are coming to you directly from the metaphorical House of Ideas.

MEH IDEA: Spider-Man Will Still Be White, Because Institutionalized Racism (Or, Nostalgia! Yeah, That’s What We Meant)

Despite the fandom pulling for Miles Morales becoming the next big screen Spider-Man now that the character’s getting a second movie reboot, it’s beginning to look a lot like we’ll get our third Peter Parker. Not only has Marvel’s chief creative officer Joe Quesada stated “Peter Parker” is the key to getting Spider-Man right, but Marvel has apparently auditioned Weeds’ Mateus Ward for the role. If only Marvel and Sony can be persuaded to retell Peter Parker’s origin again, just to restart everything on the right foot…

Why this is villainy: There’s definitely an argument to be made for audiences having had their chance to embrace Peter Parker by now. Does that mean that using Miles Morales might have resulted in a more successful franchise for Sony? Not necessarily, but wouldn’t it have been nice to have seen that for ourselves?

SUPER IDEA: Meet Lex Luthor

Yesterday morning director Zack Snyder celebrated the fact that Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was just one year away from release by letting the world see what Jesse Eisenberg looks like as Lex Luthor. As you might expect, the answer was “Like Jesse Eisenberg, but with less hair.” Snyder promised that this Lex is “not like any of the Lexes you’ve seen,” adding that he is “disarming and he’s not fake. He says what he believes and he says what’s on his mind.”

Why this is super: OK, so the visual isn’t that much of a surprise—look, it’s Mark Zuckerberg but he’s bald!—but Eisenberg remains a great choice to play Superman’s most famous villain, especially if he can make Luthor as oddly charming and sociopathic as he’s managed to make previous characters. Only one year to go!

SUPER IDEA: Marvel Has Second Thoughts About Those Ant-Man Changes

An interesting rumor appeared online via BadassDigest this week suggesting that, during shooting and especially during reshoots, Ant-Man reverted to “a place closer to where [Edgar] Wright had it” before he left the project. The explanation given was that Marvel wasn’t convinced by Wright’s desire to have the hero be an immoral jerk, but the success of Guardians of the Galaxy has convinced them otherwise. If only they could’ve come to that realization before Wright left the movie. (No offense, replacement director Peyton Reed.)

Why this is super: The rumor as stated is somewhat confusing (doesn’t Iron Man prove that Marvel’s always been OK with jerky heroes?), but if the changes to the movie mean that the finished Ant-Man will have more personality than was visible in that first trailer, it can only be an upgrade.

SUPER IDEA: It’s Now Official: Joss Whedon Was Doing the Work of Two Men

The worst-kept secret in the business is finally out, with it now all-but-official that Joe and Anthony Russo will be directing the next couple of Avengers movies for Marvel. Both Avengers: Infinity War—Part 1 and Avengers: Infinity War—Part 2 are expected to be part of one mammoth shoot beginning next year, meaning that Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., and company will have to maintain their superhero physiques for some time yet. Captain America: Civil War (also directed by the Russos) starts production in a couple of weeks.

Why this is super: The Russos did great with last year’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and clearly Marvel is convinced they’ve got what it takes to push the studio’s output to the next level. There are two particular bonuses to be found here beyond “Hey, the Russos get to make an Avengers movie for real!” Firstly, Joss Whedon will have some free time to go off and do his own thing again, and secondly, if the Russos are busy doing Marvel stuff for the next two or three years, maybe that means their controversial Ghostbusters movie might be delayed.

SUPER IDEA: Marvel Has Cast Captain Marvel and Is Keeping Her Identity Under Wraps (Maybe)

According to Latino-Review, Marvel has already cast the role of Carol Danvers ahead of the character making a cameo appearance in this summer’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, which itself comes three years ahead of her own solo Captain Marvel movie. Is Marvel really that organized? Potentially—especially when she could also pop up in both Avengers: Infinity War or Captain America: Civil War before then. Of course, even Latino-Review’s own Umberto Gonzalez warns to take this information with a grain of salt, so we might just have to wait until Avengers: Age of Ultron hits threatens to know for sure. (For what it’s worth, Kelly Sue DeConnick has already denied another part of the report that she was in the running for the screenplay.)

Why this is super: If nothing else, kudos to Marvel for excellent planning if this does turn out to legit.

SUPER IDEA, MAYBE?: The Old Order Changeth (Back) for Fox’s X-Men

If you thought that things were going to calm down in terms of time-hopping big-screen mutant superheroes following X-Men: Days of Future Past, think again. Umberto Gonzalez has even more rumors up his sleeve, claiming that next year’s X-Men: Apocalypse will feature cameos from Hugh Jackman and Halle Berry, as well as the debut of Channing Tatum’s Gambit. The day after that rumor spread, director Bryan Singer himself announced newbie Lana Condor was joining Apocalypse as Jubilation Lee. It might be good to get some more new blood in the movie, considering that Jennifer Lawrence has let it slip that she’s done with the franchise after this next movie. Recasting will be a breeze, however; her character is supposed to be able to look like other people, after all.

Why this is confusing: Look, to be honest we’re not fans of Berry’s Storm, nor, really, are we that eager to see Jackman’s Wolverine again any time soon. However, we were equally cynical about all of Days of Future Past, and that turned out to be great. Plus, you know, there’s every possibility that Channing Tatum will be a lot of fun as Gambit, so let’s just file this under “Ambivalent” for now, why don’t we?