oil spills and bioluminescence

Oil spills are a persistent problem, over the past roughly forty years over six million tons of oil have been spilled in the world. The currently favored method of cleaning oil spills in the US is mechanical containment, but this can only clean 10-15% of a spill typically.

However, "microbiologists are heralding an environmentally friendlier technique: bioremediation through biological remedial agents. Bioremediation treats pollutants (such as an oil spill or contaminated groundwater) with bacteria bioengineered to break down contaminants. Add to that bioluminescence and color-coding, and you get bacteria that not only eats oil but also helps alert us to the presence of oil spills and other environmental pollutants seeping from pipes or storage tanks into water or soil.

­Bioremedial treatments are a relatively cheap and easy recovery method compared to traditional chemicals and equipment. In initial studies, bacteria has shown its ability to clean up oil spills more rapidly than traditional techniques and reduce damage to ecosystems in the process."