4 ms·

Send in the bugs, the Michelangelos need cleaning

56 points by axiomdata316 5y ago

chmod775 5y ago
https://archive.is/wZkFt https://archive.is/wZkFt
nestorD 5y ago
> She attributed the mess to one Medici in particular, Alessandro Medici, a ruler of Florence, whose assassinated corpse had apparently been buried in the tomb without being properly eviscerated. Over the centuries, he seeped into Michelangelo’s marble, the chapel’s experts said, creating deep stains, button-shaped deformations That paragraph could be out of a Rome-themed Lovecraft short story...
- sebmellen 5y ago
  It continues: > ... and, more recently, providing a feast for the chapel’s preferred cleaning product, a bacteria called Serratia ficaria SH7. > “SH7 ate Alessandro,” Monica Bietti, former director of the Medici Chapels Museum, said as she stood in front of the now gleaming tomb, surrounded by Michelangelos, dead Medicis, tourists and an all-woman team of scientists, restorers and historians.
cyberlurker 5y ago
Very cool and creative. I like the history too. I could see hospitals using something like this. We often hear that the chemicals used for cleaning could create stronger germs (virus or bacteria?), so maybe this could help with that problem? How unlikely is it that non hazardous bacteria could become hazardous? I saw the comment about how it seems odd in the era of covid. Yeah… I don’t like red tape for most things but I’d just like to know some experts looked into it thoroughly.
- foxyv 5y ago
  Cleaners themselves don't create stronger germs. It's the use of antibiotics in cleaning solutions that can possibly cause problems. Stuff like antibacterial hand soap and washes. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3366732/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3366732/ Bacteria already have resistance to cleaners though. Biofilms are a huge issue when sterilizing tools and rooms in hospitals. Usually you have to remove the top millimeter of some surfaces just to get rid of the biofilms. They can survive extremely high temperatures and chemical environments. The dead bacteria on the top of the film make a barrier from the ones deep inside. One of my professors in college was working on a way to sterilize surfaces using cold plasma and was seeing some promise for deactivating biofilms.
omosubi 5y ago
Disappointed there is no before and after of the sculpture itself

56 points by axiomdata316 5y ago

https://archive.is/wZkFt https://archive.is/wZkFt

> She attributed the mess to one Medici in particular, Alessandro Medici, a ruler of Florence, whose assassinated corpse had apparently been buried in the tomb without being properly eviscerated. Over the centuries, he seeped into Michelangelo’s marble, the chapel’s experts said, creating deep stains, button-shaped deformations That paragraph could be out of a Rome-themed Lovecraft short story...

sebmellen 5y ago
It continues: > ... and, more recently, providing a feast for the chapel’s preferred cleaning product, a bacteria called Serratia ficaria SH7. > “SH7 ate Alessandro,” Monica Bietti, former director of the Medici Chapels Museum, said as she stood in front of the now gleaming tomb, surrounded by Michelangelos, dead Medicis, tourists and an all-woman team of scientists, restorers and historians.

cyberlurker 5y ago

Very cool and creative. I like the history too. I could see hospitals using something like this. We often hear that the chemicals used for cleaning could create stronger germs (virus or bacteria?), so maybe this could help with that problem? How unlikely is it that non hazardous bacteria could become hazardous? I saw the comment about how it seems odd in the era of covid. Yeah… I don’t like red tape for most things but I’d just like to know some experts looked into it thoroughly.

foxyv 5y ago
Cleaners themselves don't create stronger germs. It's the use of antibiotics in cleaning solutions that can possibly cause problems. Stuff like antibacterial hand soap and washes. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3366732/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3366732/ Bacteria already have resistance to cleaners though. Biofilms are a huge issue when sterilizing tools and rooms in hospitals. Usually you have to remove the top millimeter of some surfaces just to get rid of the biofilms. They can survive extremely high temperatures and chemical environments. The dead bacteria on the top of the film make a barrier from the ones deep inside. One of my professors in college was working on a way to sterilize surfaces using cold plasma and was seeing some promise for deactivating biofilms.

omosubi 5y ago

Disappointed there is no before and after of the sculpture itself