Great Salt Lake could yield new medicinal discoveries

By SHELLEY K. MESCH
Salt Lake Tribune

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Researchers are studying the Great Salt Lake in the hope of finding life-saving medicines. The Salt Lake Tribune reports a University of Utah professor and her students are scooping up mud and other sediment to identify microorganisms like bacteria and fungi that could hold the keys to a new curative. Their work comes as concerns about the lake rise. It is shrinking quickly as water use on the Wasatch Front decreases flows into the lake and hotter temperatures cause more evaporation. Water levels in July dipped to the lowest level on record and continue to decrease.