Magnetite

Hematite (17)
Magnetite (15)
Ore mineral (39)

Synopsis: Mining: Ore minerals: Magnetite:

and Fe (III) in magnetite by Fe-metabolizing bacteria), "the bacteria can load electrons onto and discharge electrons from microscopic particles of magnetite.

This discovery holds out the potential of using this mechanism to help clean up environmental pollution, and other bioengineering applications.

and the fact that magnetite can be considered to be redox active opens up the possibility of bacteria being able to exist

or survive in environments where other redox active compounds are in short supply in comparison to magnetite.

but we speculate that it might be possible for other non-iron metabolizing organisms to use magnetite as a battery as well

and water dwelling purple bacteria Rhodopseudomonas palustris with magnetite and controlled the amount of light the cultures were exposed to.

phototrophic iron-oxidizing bacteria removed electrons from the magnetite, thereby discharging it. During the nighttime conditions, the iron-reducing bacteria took over

and were able to dump electrons back onto the magnetite and recharge it for the following cycle.

it is thought that in the environment the potential for magnetite to act as a battery could extend to many other types of bacteria

There has been considerable recent work on using magnetite to clean up toxic metals. For example, magnetite can reduce the toxic form of chromium, chromium VI, to the less toxic chromium (III),

which can then be incorporated into a magnetite crystal. The fact that this magnetite may then be exposed to these reducing bacteria could potentially enhance its remediation capacity.

But we are still at an early stage of understanding the bioengineering implications of this discovery"e

#Novel nanoparticle therapy promotes wound healing (w/video)( Nanowerk News) An experimental therapy developed by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University cut in half the time it takes to heal

A substance called magnetite that lies within the zircon crystals contains information about the magnetic field record at the time the minerals cooled from their molten state a process that took over a billion years.

The magnetic data the researchers found embedded in the ancient magnetite suggests that the Earth had a magnetic field at least 750 million years earlier than previously thought.

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