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Biofuel under the sea

Posted on March 14, 2012 by | 2 comments
YouTube Preview Image

A news video  from News Channel 5 about algae as a feedstock for biofuel production.

Bioengineers, Yaso Yoshikuni and his colleagues, at the Berkeley Laboratory devised a way to transform seaweed into biofuel. Their groundbreaking findings were published this year in Science. Specifically, Yaso Yoshikuni and his colleagues discovered that an E. coli biopathway leads to the breakdown of an algae component (alginate) into simple sugars then finally to fuel.  The seaweed in question is Phaeophyceae, brown algae,  most commonly found on the Californian coast.  Seaweed, compared to other types of feedstocks like corn, maize or sugar cane, are more economically beneficial and sustainable. Brown algae as a feedstock for biofuel could potentially make a more sustainable economy in the future.

Image by James Gaither brown algae (Fucus) growing on rocks

Why brown algae?

Brown algae is found to be a more sustainable source of biofuel than corn or sugarcane because it is already found in large quantities in sea water and produced for food supplies. The brown algae intended for biofuel feedstock will be found on existing seaweed farms and thus will not require more space for its production. In addition, brown algae are one of the fastest growing seaweed. For instance, one type of brown algae, the kelps, are known to grow at least 1 metre per day!  In addition to naturally fast growing brown algae,the worldwide seaweed industry is estimated to be 5.6 billion U.S. dollars according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The big and existing market of seaweed and its naturally fast growth make the brown algae an economically feasible option as a feedstock for biofuel.

Other possible sources of biofuel

sugarcane - Image by irodman

There are other ways for converting biomass into fuel. Sugar canes, corn and maizes are some of the sources already engineered to produce ethanol (a component of fuel).  These examples have some economic disadvantages. Using them as a feedstock would take away valuable food supply and require energy intensive processes. Green algae has also been considered as a source of biofuel but they are not as fast growing as brown algae and do not contain significant amount of alginate for the production of ethanol.

 Challenges of biofuel production

While brown algae is more economically feasible than other types of biomass, there are still some obstacles to overcome before biofuel production is made possible. First, in order for biofuel production from brown algae to be competitive to fuel production, it requires billion of tonnes of large-scale production. Simply, the production of biofuel from brown algae cannot keep up with the fuel production just yet. In addition, transport of biomass from its natural source and to processing manufacturers is another challenge. The technicality of biofuel production is not well established for biofuel production to compete with the fuel production.

Specialist at the lab (Image by the Los Alamos National Laboratory)

References

http://www.nature.com/news/biofuel-from-beneath-the-waves-1.9860

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn12283-corn-biofuel-dangerously-oversold-as-green-energy.html

http://aem.asm.org/content/77/16/5822

More videos about biofuel production: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92unk4k-N3k&feature=related

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Journey To The Unknown

Posted on March 12, 2012 by | 1 comment

James Cameron is taking a break from filming blockbuster movies like Titanic and Avatar, to travel to the deepest depth of the ocean – The Challenger Deep.  He plans to travel to the bottom of the ocean in his custom built submarine while documenting his journey on film and gathering samples for scientific research.  The dive is supposed to happen in the next couple of weeks.

A map showing the location of The Challenger Deep and Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean. Photo from Flickr user Mudkipz_KGM

 

The Challenger Deep, located in the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean, is the deepest point recorded in all the oceans. At 11 kilometers below the surface, it is more than two kilometers higher than Mount Everest – the highest point on Earth.

 

 

 

Mr. Cameron will make the dive alone, in his state of the art, custom built submarine.  His vast imagination that we see come to life in his movies has now come to life for real.  The sub is reminiscent of a bullet.  The 7.3 meter long, one-person vessel, will travel vertically and reach the bottom of the ocean in less than two hours. It uses very heavy steel plates to help the sub descend to the bottom. When the vessel is ready to go back up, the plates are dropped and it will rise to the surface.  However, the submarine can still be controlled to hover in one spot, or glide through the water.

The effects of pressure in deep ocean water on styrofoam. Picture from Flickr user NOAA's National Ocean Service

The pressure in the submarine will remain constant for the entire trip.  Although the pressure at this depth is usually crushing, a newly designed foam that maintains buoyancy without being crushed and warped by the immense pressure, is the main frame of the vessel.  The pressure will cause the foam to shrink about two and a half inches, but the foam will remain intact.  It is this foam that helps the vessel rise to the surface as well, as the foam is lighter than water.

Mr. Cameron will be able to stay at the bottom for around six hours. The submarine is equipped with spotlights and cameras to document the journey in high-resolution 3D video.  The sub also has tools for collecting samples including a robotic arm, and a suction sampler that acts like a vacuum to suck up things like small organisms.

The Challenger Deep has been reached once before in 1960, but only for 20 minutes.  The pilots were not able to capture any images or samples because of the dust that was disturbed by the landing of their vessel.  This area of our world is not very well known.  Needless to say, discoveries that Mr. Cameron could make, like previously unknown organisms, would have a profound impact on scientific research. His journey to the Challenger Deep sounds amazing and exciting. I cannot wait to see what he finds in the unknown depths of the ocean.

Video from National Geographic:

Follow James Cameron’s Journey on YouTube

References:

http://deepseachallenge.com/

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/08/science/earth/james-cameron-prepares-to-dive-into-mariana-trench.html

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Posted in Biological Sciences, Issues in Science, Science in the News, Uncategorized

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The Future Of Food: Laboratory Grown Meat Could Save The World

Posted on March 12, 2012 by | 3 comments

Source: U.S Census Bureau, Expected Word Population from 1950 to 2050

The world population will increase by 2.5 billion by 2050. How are we going to feed the 2.5 billion more people in 2050? The UN says we will have to nearly double our total food production and we should adopt new technologies, however there are already one billion chronically hungry people, there’s little more virgin land to open up, climate change will only make farming harder to grow food in most places, the oceans are overfished, and much of the world faces growing water shortages. Prof. Sean Smukler from the University of British Columbia said, “Keeping pace with demand for meat from Asia and Africa will be particularly hard as demand from these regions will shoot up as living standards rise”. So how are we going to deal with this problem?

Here is the solution!

The first strips of muscle have been grown in a project to develop a new way to produce meat

 Dutch scientists (Prof. Mark and his group) have used stem cells to create strips of muscle tissue with the aim of producing the first laboratory-grown hamburger later this October. The aim of the research is to develop a more efficient way of producing meat than rearing animals. At a major science meeting in Canada, Prof Mark Post said, “synthetic meat could reduce the environmental footprint of meat by up to 60%”. Moreover Oxford University study found that this process would consume 35-60% less energy, 98% less land and produce 80-95% less greenhouse gas than conventional farming.

How it works?

How it works

Image from misfit120.wordpress.com

To make the artificial meat, scientists take muscle cells from an animal and incubate them in a protein ‘broth’. This makes the microscopic cells multiply many times over, creating a sticky tissue with the consistency of an undercooked egg. This “wasted muscle” is then bulked up through the laboratory equivalent of exercise; it is anchored to Velcro and stretched. And researchers at Utrecht University have calculated that an initial ten pork stem cells could produce 50,000 tons of meat in two months.

Video from Youtube: euronews science: In Vitro meat

Anyone wants to taste the lab grown meat burger now? However, it takes nearly one year to grow one meat patty in lab, and biggest problem is, cost of producing the hamburger will be US$345,000! But Prof. Mark says that once the principle has been demonstrated, production techniques will be improved and costs will come down.

References

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2087837/Test-tube-meat-reality-year-scientists-work-make-profitable.html

http://haysvillelibrary.wordpress.com/2009/12/16/world-population-update/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16972761

http://www.bellenews.com/2012/02/20/world/europe-news/lab-grown-meat-created-by-dutch-scientists-using-stem-cells/

http://www.gizmag.com/lab-grown-meat/20625/

 

 

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Posted in Biological Sciences, Issues in Science, Science Communication, Science in the News, Uncategorized

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How The Zebra Got Its Stripes

Posted on February 13, 2012 by | 3 comments

Ever wonder why zebras have that distinctive black and white striped pattern? Scientist Gábor Horváth and his team have come up with a new explanation: Zebra’s stripes evolved to help ward off blood-sucking tabanids, more commonly known as horseflies.

Zebra

Photo from Flickr by garymacfadyen

Originally, scientists thought that zebras were white animals that developed black stripes over time. They thought this because the underbelly of the animal is white.  However, it has been found that zebra embryos actually start out black and develop their white stripes during their gestational period.  Horváth and his team hypothesized that zebras developed their white stripes to become less attractive to horseflies. Horseflies are attracted to horizontally polarized light.  This is because these insects like to mate and lay their eggs in water, which polarizes light horizontally.  Female horseflies, the ones that do the blood-sucking, are also attracted to the horizontally polarized light reflected from animals’ hides.  Darker surfaces reflect horizontally polarized light; this explains why horseflies are more attracted to darker horses than they are to white ones.

Horsefly

Horsefly photo from Flickr by Nigel Jones (insectman)

The researchers conducted their study at a horse farm close to Budapest, which was heavily infested with horseflies. The team used models of horses with black and white striped patterns, which varied in the angle, density and width of the stripes.  Also, they reflected different directions of polarized light off the models.  Their prediction was that completely white models would have the least, dark models would have the most, and striped ones would have an intermediate amount of flies.  Using oil and glue to trap the flies, it was found that the striped models actually attracted the least amount of flies.

Using their data that was collected, they found that the width of zebras’ stripes are positively correlated with the striped patterns that horseflies were least attracted to.  It was also seen that narrower stripes were less attractive to horseflies. This led Horváth and his team to conclude that the zebra developed its striped pattern to ward off horseflies.

A Zebra Camouflaged in tall grass. Photo from Flickr by Mister.Tee

There could be other reasons why zebras evolved stripes.  One reason may have been to camouflage into tall grass, as most of the zebra’s predators are colour blind. It is possible that the stripes may have evolved to confuse predators, making it hard to focus on one zebra at a time.  Another reason may have been for reproduction, with the stripes being a way for the animals to tell each other apart and choose mates.

It is likely that the evolution of the zebra’s stripes is a combination of many or all of these ideas, and there could also be other reasons.  One thing is for sure, nature is fascinating, and it is amazing to know that it is very likely that zebras evolved stripes to act as a natural insect repellent.  I may test this theory myself; you might see me wearing stripes next time I’m hiking through the woods!

References:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120209101730.htm

http://jeb.biologists.org/content/215/5/iii

http://earthsky.org/biodiversity/how-zebras-got-their-stripes

 

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Posted in Biological Sciences, Science in the News, Uncategorized

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No more wires! Vital Signs monitored by Electronic Tattoos

Posted on February 6, 2012 by | 4 comments

The new patch that will revolutionise a patient's medical monitoring system. Image from John Rogers (University of Illinois)

The future looks bright for electronic monitoring, as temporary tattoos could revolutionise how the medical system keeps tabs on it’s patients.  The old, bulky devices that have been seen in hospitals, may now be replaced by the new, state-of-the-art temporary tattoo vital sign monitors.  Imagine the option of being monitored medically without the sticky gels and electrodes hooking you up to a machine; it sounds ideal to me! 

Electrodes; Image from Flickr: quinn.anya

Composition

John Rogers of the University of Illinois, termed this patch and it’s functions as “Epidermal Electronics.”    It takes the chemical components of larger electrodes (such as diodes, transmitters etc) that are found in the medical monitors of today, and builds them into wires only nanometers in size.  Rubber is then placed underneath this framework of wires which are placed on a water-soluble patch that resembles the structure of a rub-on tattoo and is only 40 micrometers in size (see Picture #1)!   The patch is flexible enough to expand and contract with the movement of the skin.  Application of the device is very similar to that of a rub-on tattoo, where it can be applied with a wet cloth and then a plastic shield is removed to reveal the vital-sign monitor.

 How it works
 
 How does this electronic device stick onto the skin of a person without falling off?  The chemistry of van der waals forces come into play, where the device touches the skin and they create an electric attraction between molecules.  This allows them to bend and form together with the two forces interacting to prevent the patch from falling off. 
If a patient is concerned with how the device appears, there is always the option of concealing it with a temporary tattoo that has a different design.  The video below from Youtube and NewScientist explains the monitor using a rub-on tattoo to hide the actual device: 

 YouTube Preview Image

Rogers and his team of researchers were able to determine that the chip was affective using a study of volunteers.  These people were able to place the minature monitor on their necks and any electrical changes from muscle movement throughout their body was sent through a computer that determined the participant’s vitals.

 What does this mean?

This device seems to be very beneficial for patients that need to be monitored for a few days in a clinical environment, however nowadays as our world is becoming more electronic we may be able to do this ourselves one day. The more options we will have for microscopic wireless devices in our everyday lives will rise. For example, iphones are currently creating applications to determine things like blood pressure, which is just a step in the direction of having vital signs monitored by our own cellphones!  The result could then be forwarded to a doctor electronically: no hassle, no fuss!

References:

NewScientist:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20787-electronic-tattoos-to-monitor-vital-signs.html

Article in The New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/04/technology/wireless-medical-monitoring-might-untether-patients.html

 John Rogers of the University of Illinois:
http://chemistry.illinois.edu/faculty/John_Rogers.html

 

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Posted in Biological Sciences, Issues in Science, Medicine, Science in the News, Uncategorized

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