Bakterier städar upp Michelangelos skulpturer

Bacteria clean up Michelangelo's sculptures

There's a lot of interesting stuff happening in the microbial field and we're keeping an eye out to learn more and share innovations where microbes are helping us solve our human challenges - big and small.

"Last fall, with the Medici Chapel in Florence operating on reduced hours because of Covid-19, scientists and restorers completed a secret experiment: They unleashed grime-eating bacteria on the artist's masterpiece marbles." The New York Times, May 2021.

This New York Times article from earlier this year describes how bacteria were sent in to clean up the famous Michelangelos in the Medici Chapel in Florence, Italy. An (all-female) team of scientists, restorers and historians deployed bacteria (SH7) in the challenging task of cleaning Michelangelo's sculptures of Twilight and Dawn, among others.

Read the full article here.

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