Can Microbes Clean Up Our Oily Mess? - Instant Egghead #58

With an estimated 70 oil spills every day in the U.S. and tons of plastic garbage littering our oceans, humans could really use some help cleaning up. Scientific American editor David Biello explains how bacteria and other microbes slowly consume our mess.

More to explore:

How Going with the Flow Helped Microbes Eat BP's Oil Spill (Scientific American)
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2012/01/09/how-going-with-the-flow-helped-microbes-eat-bps-oil-spill/?WT.mc_id=SA_sciamerican_meta

Meet the Microbes Eating the Gulf Oil Spill [Slide Show] (Scientific American) http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=gulf-oil-eating-microbes-slide-show&WT.mc_id=SA_sciamerican_meta

Marine Microbes Digest Plastic (Nature news)
http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110328/full/news.2011.191.html

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Credits:
Written & presented by David Biello
Edited by Joss Fong
Produced by Eric R. Olson