Cyborg bacteria turn sunlight into useful chemicals
From UC Berkeley
To help humans capture more of the sun’s energy than natural photosynthesis can, UC Berkeley scientists have taught bacteria to cover themselves in tiny, highly efficient solar panels to produce useful chemical compounds.Read more: http://news.berkeley.edu/story_jump/cyborg-bacteria-turn-sunlight-into-useful-compounds/Chemistry Professor Peidong Yang and Kelsey Sakimoto, a former graduate student now at Harvard University, worked with a naturally occurring, nonphotosynthetic bacterium, Moorella thermoacetica, which, as part of its normal respiration, produces acetic acid from carbon dioxide.
They fed the bacteria chemicals that made them construct their own solar collectors, which were able to capture about 80 percent of sunlight’s energy to make acetic acid. This is about four times more efficient than natural photosynthesis using chlorophyll, which captures sunlight to convert carbon dioxide and water into starch.
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Science always got new ways to the life...always make easy life...this is great experiment future...
SCIENCE B!TCH!
Can things be cool and terrifying at the same time?
Genetically modified organisms? I thought that was the devil? ;)
This is pretty neat :) I went to ASU for microbiology and always had a fascination with photosynthesis and solar panels. Maybe they could create a sort of living solar panel to synthesize different forms of energy.
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