Pollution-eating microbes are thriving in infamous NYC canal

Assistant Professor Elizabeth Hénaff and colleagues have discovered that Brooklyn's Gowanus Canal, one of America's most contaminated waterways, hosts hundreds of microbe species that have evolved to break down pollution and sequester heavy metals. Their study identified 455 different microbe species with 64 metabolic pathways capable of degrading organic contaminants. The canal has “accumulated anywhere from ten to twenty feet of contaminated sediment at the bottom…" says Hénaff, who has also organized an art exhibit called CHANNEL at the Brooklyn Navy Yard to illustrate the science involved in the study.