3 Future Oil-Spill Fighters: Sponges, Superbugs, and Herders

In the past 20 years we’ve traded pagers for smart phones and library cards for Kindles. But the joint federal-industry task force charged with responding to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill is still using cleanup methods that haven’t changed much since the days of the Exxon Valdez.

Nearly four million gallons of oil have already spewed into the Gulf since the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon rig sank last month.

Amid efforts to cap the seafloor leak, cleanup workers have been using boat-based skimmers to pick up the oil, booms to gather the slick for burning, and chemical dispersants to break the crude into smaller droplets—all parts of the oil-fighting toolkit for decades.


Read the rest at News.NationalGeographic.com

  1. Cesar Harada says:

    Hello dear Rachel, was nice to meet you at TEDxOilSpill.
    hey, I read your article on National Geographic and stuff about the supersponge, check that one :
    http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2008/oil-paper-0530.html
    I also sent you an email, talk soon.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *