The team suggests that the extremophile strains they found in the microwave ovens might have been ‘selected’ evolutionarily by surviving repeated rounds of radiation, and could have biotechnological applications, such as in the bioremediation of toxic waste.
That’s an interesting idea, and i hope they do some proper research into it. Another notion, and this will require someone with more of an electronics engineering bent, is: Are there ‘corners’ in a typical microwave which just due to the limitations of ‘stirring methods’ don’t receive much irradiation at all? That is, “paint the walls” with microbes and microwaves kill the vast majority yet there might be an odd section or two (e.g. distal side of the light panel) of nigh zero microwaves which nonetheless a swab test picks up. …maybe
