Something To Look Forward To

       Deinococcus Radiodurans is a very useful bacteria that is being used today and will be used in some

interesting areas in the, hopefully, near future. It is currently being used in areas such as bioremediation,

or the process of breaking down harmful chemicals into more easily disposible compounds. One example

of this is the use of Deinococcus Radiodurans to break down ionic (toxic) mercury found around nuclear

waste. There are big plans in store for Deinococcus Radiodurans. It is planned to be used in

the terraformation of Mars and as a possibe cure cancer and prevention from the symptoms of

aging. The most important plan is to use it as model from which biologists can engineer a "super-bug".

Currently, Deinococcus Radiodurans can only break down a few substances because many substances

hinder its growth. The plan is to create a bacterium that can break down radioactive and chemical

wastes efficiently, or other hazardous materials from disasters such as oil spills. Some of these

topics are discussed in more detail on other pages.