Today, the well known journal “Science” will be publishing an article about the possibility of using bacteria to alter the weather.

These bacteria actually lower the temperature at which ice crystals can form. This cycle may have evolved because the bacteria need to return to land in order to continue to multiply.

Biological precipitation, or the “bio-precipitation” cycle, as Sands calls it, basically is this: bacteria form little groups on the surface of plants. Wind then sweeps the bacteria into the atmosphere, and ice crystals form around them. Water clumps on to the crystals, making them bigger and bigger. The ice crystals turn into rain and fall to the ground. When precipitation occurs, then, the bacteria have the opportunity to make it back down to the ground. If even one bacterium lands on a plant, it can multiply and form groups, thus causing the cycle to repeat itself.-David Sands

Some of the samples taken by David Sands’ team indicated that up to 85% of the precipitate was the result of bacteria.

Introducing more of these bacteria into drought areas could increase rainfall. Additionally, bacteria could be engineered that are better at increasing the temperature that ice-crystals can form than the current bacteria. In our very water dependent world, this is an important discovery that is only beginning to be studied.

Apparently David Sands proposed the idea of bio-precipitation 25 years ago. But at the time, few people accepted his view.

In a few years this could be information found in our children’s textbooks.

Science Fiction, Philosophy, and the Future: http://boldlygo.org/blog/

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jared_Page

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