Scientists say the slime in your dishwasher could reveal a solution to global warming

() – Scientists have scoured the depths of the ocean and outer space in search of microbes that will help slow global warming. Now they’re looking in a new and unlikely place: inside your home.

A group called Two Frontiers Project (2FP) funded by biotech company Seed Health is asking US citizens to look for “strange microbial growths” in their homes, in an attempt to find the next microorganism that can absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air, which warms the planet, or help break down environmental pollutants.

Extremophilic microbes thrive in harsh environments and develop unique properties, which can be harnessed by the biotech industry and used in climate solutions, said Braden Tierney, executive director of 2FP.

Although microbes live on all household surfaces, the group is especially interested in those that live in more extreme environments, including high-temperature places like dishwashers, air conditioners, microwaves, solar panels, hot water heaters, and shower heads. shower.

“These environments, although common, mimic the extreme conditions of nature,” Tierney told . “They reflect the environmental changes that our planet may face in the future, such as rising temperatures, intensification of radiation and increasing acidification of oceans and soils.”

The team hopes to discover microbes inside homes that may have the same carbon-absorbing qualities as some found in nature.

In 2022, off the Italian island of Vulcano, where carbon dioxide bubbles from volcanic vents on the seabed, a 2FP team discovered a novel cyanobacteria, an aquatic organism capable of making its own food that they say can absorb CO2 more effectively than any other known microbe.

Volunteers who sign up for the “Extremophile Campaign” will be asked to take photos of any microbial growth in their home “think slime, hardened mats, stringy growth,” the project website says, and respond. to questions about what they see.

“Unusual colors, smells, textures and other data” can help scientists identify areas of interest, Tierney says. If they want to explore something further, they will send a DNA sampling kit for volunteers to use and mail it to them. These results will be added to an open source database on Extremophilic microbes.

“It is a very interesting alternative to access microbes with capabilities… that are not yet known,” said Wilfried Weber, scientific director of Germany’s Leibniz Institute for New Materials, who is not involved in the study. “I think there is a good chance that new microbes will be identified,” he told .

The World Economic Forum named microbial carbon capture as one of the world’s top emerging technologies in a June reportbut the technology is still in its infancy, with companies carrying out pilot-scale programs to test its commercial viability.

Carbon capture, which includes a number of technologies ranging from huge vacuum-type facilities capable of sucking climate pollution out of the air to carbon-absorbing sponges, remains a controversial climate solution.

The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has stated that, in addition to drastically reducing fossil fuels, the world will have to remove large amounts of CO2 already in the atmosphere to avoid increasingly catastrophic climate change.

But critics warn that it is expensive, unproven at scale, and is being exploited by the fossil fuel industry to continue extracting oil and gas, rather than switching to cleaner forms of energy such as wind and solar.

Using microbes has its advantages, says Weber. While classical carbon capture usually aims to store CO2 underground, with microbes “you have the potential to convert CO2 into high-value products (like) refined chemicals, cosmetics, fuel,” which could help offset the costs of the process, he said.

Still, this method requires additional energy “such as sunlight… or some type of chemical energy that could come from green hydrogen or organic waste streams,” he added. “That is why these technologies make sense in places where such energy is available in a sustainable way.”

The potential uses of Extremophilic microbes in biotechnology go beyond carbon capture, according to Tierney. Microbial species, such as those found in dishwashers, capable of withstanding high levels of detergent and salt, “could be harnessed for environmental cleanup under harsh conditions, such as removing heavy metals or oil from contaminated sites,” he said.

Thermophiles, such as those found in microorganisms, which can survive extreme heat, could “be used to study adaptation to climate change and even to create clean energy sources, such as hydrogen, which often require high temperatures for their production.” production,” he added.

Microbes “are a powerful tool in specific contexts, but they are only part of the broader solution,” Ara Katz, co-CEO of Seed Health, told . “The urgency of the climate crisis means we must explore all possible approaches.”