Researchers are 'rewriting the software of life,' working to transform artificial DNA into synthetic fuel. This could revolutionize the production of energy.
Cue the spooky music. These weird entities can be designed to do all sorts of neat tricks, but the most immediately commercial approach is aimed at metabolizing feedstocks such as sugar cane and a tropical wonder shrub called jatropha into fuel many thousands of times more efficiently than current industrial techniques.
.........here we go, git the oil while you can ever-body...
From what I read, it sounds like all they're doing is transforming synthetically produced code into bacteria, with the purpose of producing bacteria able to metabolize waste into fuel.
Neat stuff, but not 'synthetic life' at all, more like like working alongside with a few thousand BP's of synthetically produced code (which is chemically no different than naturally produced code). The technology to do this has been around a while, I've done it myself to amplifyPCR frags for sequencing, a trained monkey with some chemicals and lab equipment can make a transformation work, and a trained brewer could run fuel production . If they can pull of figuring out the sequence needed to make the bacteria do what they want, it'll be quite neat. Basically, you can make your fuel and bacteria the same way they makegood beer, just some carefully monitoredfermentation.
The only problem is going to be coming up with code with no unknownill effects. Seems everytime you come up with a fix for anything in genetics, it causes its own host of other problems; we're just beginning to figure some of this stuff out.
Sweet, maybe the EPA along with state governments will mandate that fuels in certain areas will contain no less than 10% 'genomic fuels.' I can then be on the same gravy train that the farmers have been on for the last two years as my current job is manufacturing synthetic DNA and RNA nucleoside analogues.
__________________
Obamanfreude - 1. taking pleasure from the misfortunes of an Obama supporter as he or she is adversely affected by the policies of their Dear Leader.
We do different analogues anywhere from 5 grams to 50 kg in scale.
A small part of our business is making oligonucleotides, but mostly we produce raw materials for our customers along with some testing kits.
__________________
Obamanfreude - 1. taking pleasure from the misfortunes of an Obama supporter as he or she is adversely affected by the policies of their Dear Leader.
Sorry, wrong thread. I saw the title and knew you must be talking aboit oil. The earth produces it. The earth allows more to leak out all over the world itself every year way more then man ever has and yet earth is still what it is today.
__________________
John Adams “The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.”
Ronald Reagan: 'Everybody that is for abortion has already been born'
"I never said I was worth it. I only said I wouldn't do it for less " William F. Buckley Jr.
I saw the title and knew you must be talking aboit oil. The earth produces it. The earth allows more to leak out all over the world itself every year way more then man ever has and yet earth is still what it is today. [align=right]
[/align][align=right][/align][align=right][/align][align=right]The theory about abiotic oil makes a lot of sense. There is frozen methane in the bottom of ocean trenches, not to mention entire planets and moons that are made largely in part of frozen methane. Enough heat, pressure, time and in the presence of certain minerals, its easy to conceive of methane forming hydrocarbon chains that make up oil. [/align]
__________________
Obamanfreude - 1. taking pleasure from the misfortunes of an Obama supporter as he or she is adversely affected by the policies of their Dear Leader.
you must be talking aboit oil. The earth produces it. The earth allows more to leak out all over the world itself every year way more then man ever has and yet earth is still what it is today.
yes, but if we are pumping oil out of the earth faster than it is being recreated, it can not keep going forever
you must be talking aboit oil. The earth produces it. The earth allows more to leak out all over the world itself every year way more then man ever has and yet earth is still what it is today.
yes, but if we are pumping oil out of the earth faster than it is being recreated, it can not keep going forever
Ok your right, exactly when will we run out?
__________________
John Adams “The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.”
Ronald Reagan: 'Everybody that is for abortion has already been born'
"I never said I was worth it. I only said I wouldn't do it for less " William F. Buckley Jr.
planet-friendly energy
. If they can pull of figuring out the sequence needed to make the bacteria do what they want, it'll be quite neat. Basically, you can make your fuel and bacteria the same way they makegood beer, just some carefully monitoredfermentation.
