Killing slime: an AI-first biotech solution

We love public science lessons, like the algae debacle that turned Washington, D.C.’s Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool a vibrant green this summer after a renovation. It’s not exactly a new development. Algal blooms have intermittently plagued the site for generations, including during the last big overhaul in 2012. But the latest episode lingers despite treatments with hydrogen peroxide and an ozone nanobubble system. As Bethany Brookshire makes clear for Science News, there’s another option that might have managed the crisis far more effectively, had it been used from the start.

☠️ The science of cellular suicide

Meet ferroptosis, a natural biological process that might explain why “blue-green algae”, the kind also known as cyanobacteria, can suddenly die off all at once. Recent research shows that when a form of the element iron called ferrous iron and hydrogen peroxide collide, they shred the fatty lipid chains in algal cell membranes, causing the cells to self-destruct. In a controlled, lab system, this process triggers a rapid, cascading die-off. If the first algae to show up in the Reflecting Pool were cyanobacteria, work crews might have been able to clear the algae by adding iron-based catalysts to the water.