Molecular Environmental
Science:
From X-rays to
Biogeochemistry to Beethoven
Understanding
the fate and transport of heavy metal and radionuclide contaminants in soils,
sediments, and groundwater, through the food chain, and human physiological
responses to contaminant exposure are fundamentally important in the
development and evaluation of risk assessment and effective remediation and
sequestration strategies. In addition to the physical and chemical process at
the mineral surface, bacteria and the extracellular material associated with
them are thought to play a key role in determining a contaminant’s speciation
and thus its mobility in the environment. Increasing our understanding of the
role of bacteria in determining the fate of heavy metals and radionuclides in
the environment requires the integration of many different scientific
disciplines including physics, geology, chemistry, and micro)biology. Similarly,
an increased understanding of the movement of metals and radionuclides through
the human body upon exposure to these contaminants is needed to better
understand their toxicity. This presentation will provide a general overview of
the field of Molecular Environmental Science and Geomicrobiology, present
forensic studies of hair and bone relics used to identify causes of Ludwig van
Beethoven’s documented maladies and death, illustrate the importance of
integrating multiple scientific disciplines to address key questions in these
fields, and demonstrate how novel uses of synchrotron-based x-ray absorption
spectroscopy and x-ray microscopy, coupled with electron microscopy, have
provided key insights to some of these questions.