Pollution-detecting 'colour-coded bacteria' developed

New bacteria have been developed by Swiss scientists that allow water contamination to be more easily detected, reports state.

The new bacteria are colour-coded in order to measure the extent of water contamination from oil.

A trial conducted at sea proved to be a success, as the bacteria, which are installed with a blue light-omitting protein, detected oil in tainted water.

According to the scientists involved in its development, the bacteria are cheap to manufacture as well as being a greener option than current detection methods.

Professor Jan Van der Meer, from Switzerland's University of Lausanne, explained: "The heart of our colour sensor system is the bacteria themselves. They reproduce themselves in a growth medium, which makes the whole set-up really cheap."

In related news, last week it was discovered that two oil spills occurred along the Texas coastline as a result of Hurricane Ike hitting the area around two weeks ago.