An Israeli Ph.D student’s case study on a kind of deadly algae, may just help to make drinking water safer for people and animals alike.
It almost sounds like a zany plot from a cartoon from a super villain: A beautiful, yet very deadly, kind of blue-green algae, forces other microorganisms found in fresh water to do its bidding, which enables them to over run the water, and threaten the health of people and animals all over the world.
These devious cyanobacteria algae – known as the thorns in the sides of the freshwater populaces – are not cartoon characters however. A paper recently published on August the 12th in the journal Current Biology, a scientist over at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem explains to us how they take over their competition and are very prolific, raising concern around the world due to the detrimental impact they could pose on the quality of water.
By enlightening us on how the algae function, Yehonatan Bar-Yosef’s case study can help other experts find out how to deal with this threat and ensure that drinking water is safe for humans and animals all over the world.
Back in 1994, a huge bloom of this toxic algae was discovered in Lake Kinneret, which is also known as the Sea of Galilee. A lot of the potable water for Israel is taken from the Kinneret, so this discovery really raised red flags.
Luckily for us Bar-Yosef is delving into the matter, and could conceivably come up with an enzyme to help battle this dastardly algae.
Good luck Bar-Yosef, we are all rooting for you. Hopefully he will crack the code, and help everyone in the world.