- [Jonathan] Could we get
a renewable fuel source
from cyborg bacteria?
(techno music)
Here on earth, carbon is
really important stuff.
We are carbon based lifeforms
and not just me and you,
birds, bees, we're all carbon based.
But carbon dioxide can be a problem.
It's a greenhouse gas and
if there's a lot of it,
well, it can lead to localized warming,
which can contribute to climate change.
So reducing or capturing
carbon dioxide emissions
is vitally important before
it vents to the atmosphere.
And there is a blooming field of research
that is dedicated to this.
Artificial photosynthesis.
Photosynthesis, just
for a biology refresher,
is the process that plants
and some organisms use
to capture solar energy and
convert it into chemical energy.
They then use that to turn stuff
like carbon dioxide
and water into biomass.
Artificial photosynthesis
can also capture solar energy
and carbon dioxide and
water and make useful stuff,
like acetate.
(gently chiming bells)
Alright, so some scientists
from the Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory,
and from the University
of California, Berkeley,
teamed up and wrote a paper on this.
And it has a really catchy title.
It's 'Nonowire Bacteria Hybrids
for Unassisted Solar
Carbon Dioxide Fixation
to Value Added Chemicals'.
Rolls off the tongue.
But the research is amazing.
They needed to do two things.
They needed to be able
to capture solar energy
and convert it into something
else like electricity,
and they needed to be able
to capture carbon dioxide
to build something useful like acetate.
(gently chiming bells)
So they used nanotechnology and biology
to make cyborg bacteria.
(dramatic music)
Sort of. Let's look at
the nano bits first.
They built nanowires made of
silicone and titanium oxide.
When solar energy hits it,
it generates electrons and electron holes.
It passes the electrons to its
tag-team partner, bacteria.
Specifically sporomusa ovata,
which is an anaerobic bacteria that,
when it accepts electrons,
can capture carbon dioxide,
and convert it into
something else like acetate.
(gently chiming bells)
Acetate is a bio-synthetic building block
and it can be turned into
all sorts of chemicals.
So if you gather it and give it to
a different type of bacteria,
say a genetically
modified form of E. coli,
you could synthesize
all types of chemicals,
including a synthetic fuel
that's similar to gasoline.
So imagine, you could
capture carbon emissions
and then make a renewable fuel source.
It's a win, win scenario.
Right now this technology
isn't efficient enough
for commercial use.
But the team hopes to continue
boosting that efficiency
and they think that
they can get to a point
where we could actually
roll this out worldwide.
Ultimately, I don't think
it's going to replace
our other renewable energy technologies,
but it could certainly augment them.
And this means our
future could be amazing.
I've got a question
for you guys this week.
What do you think is the future of energy?
I wanna hear your thoughts
in the comments below.
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(techno music)
