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Sand hardened by bacteria could create roads without using oil
Next Big Future ^ | November 1, 2010 | Brian Wang

Posted on 11/01/2010 5:39:35 PM PDT by decimon

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The team says that mixing common sand – one of the most abundant resources on the planet – with a solution containing the microorganism Bacillus Pasteurii could result in a cementing process that turns the mix into biologically-engineered hardened sandstone.

After the two are mixed, the solution is sprayed on yet another layer of sand. The microbes act again, solidifying the layer underneath, and resulting in a tough, road-worthy material that can sustain heavy traffic.

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(Excerpt) Read more at nextbigfuture.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Science
KEYWORDS: bacilluspasteurii
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To: decimon

Hmmm, sounds like one of those things that just because you can do it doesn’t mean you should.


21 posted on 11/01/2010 6:36:16 PM PDT by bgill (K Parliament- how could a young man born in Kenya who is not even a native American become the POTUS)
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To: decimon

But the bad new is that tires wear out every 5000 miles.


22 posted on 11/01/2010 6:38:48 PM PDT by AdamBomb
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To: OldMissileer

The worst part will be years from now, when leftist professors berate our society for using bacterial coolie labor to build roads.


23 posted on 11/01/2010 6:39:12 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (The 2nd Amendment follows right behind the 1st because some people are hard of hearing.)
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To: decimon

Bacterium... isn’t that what the call the buffet line for bacteria?


24 posted on 11/01/2010 6:39:57 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (The 2nd Amendment follows right behind the 1st because some people are hard of hearing.)
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To: WellyP

Wouldn’t they need expansion joints?


25 posted on 11/01/2010 6:44:47 PM PDT by chopperman
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To: AdamBomb

But the bad new is that tires wear out every 5000 miles.

***********

As will your lungs so don’t buy any steel-belted radials, I guess.


26 posted on 11/01/2010 6:49:05 PM PDT by JouleZ (You are the company you keep.)
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To: chopperman

No, bacteria like very, very small joints.


27 posted on 11/01/2010 6:50:15 PM PDT by 1010RD (First Do No Harm)
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To: SunkenCiv

No blood for sand!


28 posted on 11/01/2010 6:51:05 PM PDT by 1010RD (First Do No Harm)
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To: SunkenCiv
Bacterium... isn’t that what the call the buffet line for bacteria?

Kinda like the cafeterium at school.

29 posted on 11/01/2010 7:00:07 PM PDT by decimon
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To: CharlesWayneCT
Hoepfully, nobody will think it would be a funny prank to get a barrel of these microbes and drop them at a nearby beach.

From a quick search it looks like a couple more ingredients are needed. And it looks like bacillus pasteurii is a natural soil microbe.

30 posted on 11/01/2010 7:07:18 PM PDT by decimon
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To: dools0007world
Remember the gulf oil...bugs ate a lot of the oil and they use bugs to clean up old gas station sites.

It's like a septic system where the good bugs eat the bad bugs.

But I think the bottom line is that once the bugs have done their work...they croak.

Sandstone for roads doesn't make a lot of sense....basically, it's the old brick streets like we had in our neighborhood. It's pretty soft and not sure what temperature change does to it...

Concrete roads last a hell of a long time but are expensive and take some real expertise.

Some things work. Some don't. Might be okay for a coutry road without a lot of traffic...SHOW ME!!

31 posted on 11/01/2010 7:16:45 PM PDT by Sacajaweau
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To: 1010RD; decimon

Mytosis, your tosis, everybody’s tosis.


32 posted on 11/01/2010 7:25:49 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (The 2nd Amendment follows right behind the 1st because some people are hard of hearing.)
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To: decimon
Interesting. Hmmm?


33 posted on 11/01/2010 7:46:54 PM PDT by rawhide
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To: decimon

The animal rights activists will scream and wail about the unfairness to the poor little bacilli. Mixing them with sand, then squishing them with truck wheels- really!


34 posted on 11/01/2010 7:57:35 PM PDT by JimRed (Excising a cancer before it kills us waters the Tree of Liberty too! TERM LIMITS, NOW AND FOREVER!)
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To: justsaynomore

Well, it was a pretty good ground cover. Unfortunately it was an even better house cover, power pole cover, road cover, and if you stood still for a little too long, people cover.


35 posted on 11/01/2010 8:03:30 PM PDT by Yardstick
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To: decimon

That’s really cool, but my understanding is that asphalt is pretty much a useless byproduct of oil refinement, no?


36 posted on 11/01/2010 8:36:17 PM PDT by dangus
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To: decimon

( I mean useless for fuel, of course.)


37 posted on 11/01/2010 8:36:42 PM PDT by dangus
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To: decimon

bflr


38 posted on 11/01/2010 9:06:16 PM PDT by Kevmo (So America gets what America deserves - the destruction of its Constitution. ~Leo Donofrio, 6/1/09)
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To: decimon

bflr


39 posted on 11/01/2010 9:06:36 PM PDT by Kevmo (So America gets what America deserves - the destruction of its Constitution. ~Leo Donofrio, 6/1/09)
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To: decimon

My first question: Is this cheaper than asphalt roads? Here in Sonoma County, we’ve just been informed that the County supervisors are going to let most of our country roads go to wrack and ruin because we can’t afford to maintain them. Seriously, they’re going to let the present asphalt roads “degrade” to cobblestone-sized pieces (which will take about ten years, and guess how much FUN it’s going to be driving on these POS roads during that time?), and then they’re going to pulverize the pieces and turn them back into gravel-type roads. Progress, my @ss. Maybe we’ll have sandstone roads in place before this “plan” of their can come to pass. One can hope.


40 posted on 11/01/2010 10:48:45 PM PDT by Hetty_Fauxvert (March 2010: Congress shoved Obamacare down our throats. November 2010: We will shove it back!)
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