Easily digestible tech news... http://www.techdirt.com/ en-us http://www.techdirt.com/images/td-88x31.gifhttp://www.techdirt.com/ Mon, 4 Mar 2013 17:00:00 PST Joyce Hung http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101123/16300911997/dailydirt-microorganisms-biofuel-production.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101123/16300911997/dailydirt-microorganisms-biofuel-production.shtml

Companies like Luca Technologies and Next Fuel are investigating the potential for microbial methane production from coal. Their approach is to stimulate native microorganisms that feed on underground hydrocarbon deposits to produce more methane. This could make it possible to extract fuel from coal reserves that have been too expensive to mine. [url]

Researchers at Purdue University are studying how termite digestion could help improve biofuel production. They found that protists, which live in the termite's gut, may play an important role in the insect's digestion of woody material. Further research could lead to finding enzymes that could one day be used to help improve biofuel production. [url]

Researchers at UC Berkeley have created a biodiesel fuel using a fermentation process that was once used to make explosives in World War I. The process uses a bacterium called Clostridium acetobutylicum (also known as the "Weizmann Organism") to ferment sugar from various sources -- including corn, sugar cane, molasses, woody biomass, or plant biomass -- and produces acetone, butanol, and ethanol. The fermentation products are then converted into a mix of hydrocarbons that are similar to those in diesel fuel. The resulting fuel burns as well as petroleum-based fuel and has more energy per gallon than ethanol. [url]

Researchers at UC San Diego have demonstrated for the first time that marine algae can also be used to produce biofuels like fresh water algae. They genetically engineered the marine alga Dunaliella tertiolecta to produce five different enzymes that could be used to convert biomass to fuel. Their finding suggests that algal biofuels could also be produced in the ocean, in the brackish water of tidelands, or even on otherwise unusable agricultural land with high salt content in the soil. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post.

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]]> urls-we-dig-up http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20101123/16300911997 Wed, 6 Feb 2013 17:00:00 PST Michael Ho http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101031/08132811661/dailydirt-life-abhors-vacuum.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101031/08132811661/dailydirt-life-abhors-vacuum.shtml

Evidence of life in a subglacial lake in Antarctica has been found, and it could mean that bacteria are much more widespread than we previously thought. Researchers still need to verify this discovery and make sure they're not looking at bacterial contamination from other sources. [url]

Frost flowers are salty ice crystals that form on calm ocean surfaces, and arctic sea meadows of these flowers may become more common with climate change near the north/south poles. About a million bacteria live in the few milliliters of frozen saltwater of a frost flower, and studying these cells could teach us more about how hardy some extremophile organisms can be. [url]

Bacteria living below the ocean and at the ocean surface have it easy compared to bacteria that live 6 miles above sea level in the troposphere. Microorganisms could play a role in cloud formation, and there is a lot we don't know about how life survives in different parts of the atmosphere. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post.

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]]> urls-we-dig-up http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20101031/08132811661 Tue, 28 Feb 2012 17:00:00 PST Joyce Hung http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120221/15380117834/dailydirt-tiny-drug-factories.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120221/15380117834/dailydirt-tiny-drug-factories.shtml

Are you depressed? You can use open-source DNA code from the Registry of Standard Biological Parts to genetically engineer yogurt bacteria to make Prozac. The process takes 4-5 days, and anyone can purchase the DNA code online. [url]

Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have created a strain of bacteria that can incorporate artificial amino acids into proteins at multiple sites. This could be used to engineer bacteria to produce a variety of synthetic chemicals. [url]

Green algae could be a cheaper alternative to bacteria in the manufacture of therapeutic drugs. While bacterial cultures require lots of energy and nutrients to maintain, the algae need only sunlight and carbon dioxide in the air. [url]

To discover more interesting science-related stuff, check out what's currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]  

By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

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