Digital photomicrograph; illuminated with infrared energy and electronic flash;
post-capture digital composite
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, United States
Columbia River basalts from beneath the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory were found to harbor 85 strains of soil-dwelling microorganisms. Researchers studied living colonies of the microbes in thin slices from unaltered basalt cores by using an infrared beamline at the Advanced Light Source of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. This technique has produced spectacular success in establishing the role of microbes in detoxifying carcinogenic and radioactive pollutant waste areas.
