Mrsa Does It Stay Cured

BANANA SHELL HOLDERS VERY USEFUL

..... The banana and water filter

By Anna Minard Today will be a "nightmare" for allergy sufferers because of its high concentration of pollen
Mon, 21 Mar 2011 5:05 a.m. EDT

Radioactivity Japanese food
raises global fears Thu, 24 Mar 2011 10:08 a.m. EDT
.. GRAPHIC MATERIAL ..: This article is accompanied by a photo of bananas.

From National Geographic News

Distributed by The New York Times Syndicate

banana peels do not serve only to make compost or comedy program: a new research shows that heavy metal contaminants can extract water from rivers.

metals like lead and copper enter waterways through a variety of sources including agricultural runoff and industrial waste. Once there, the heavy metals can contaminate soil and pose serious health risks to humans and other species. It is known that lead affects the brain and nervous system.

Traditionally, engineers specializing in water quality have used silica, aluminum oxide, cellulose and water to remove heavy metals, but these strategies are expensive and involve potentially toxic side effects themselves. Function as pumps due to the presence of acids as those found in carboxylic and phenolic groups, attracting metal ions.

Bananas, by On the other hand, seem to be a safe alternative. Banana peels also have better performance than its competition, says Gustavo Castro, a researcher at the Institute of Biosciences of Botucatu, Brazil, and coauthor of a new study on this use.

For the study, Castro and his crew and ground dried banana peels and combined with flasks of water with known metal concentrations. They also developed water filters with the shells and made by running water through them.

In both scenarios, "the metal was removed from the water and was mixed in shells," said Castro, adding that the extraction capacity of the shells Banana exceeded that of other materials used to remove heavy metals.