A Laboratory of the Future Human Experience
Alligator fat meets nearly all of the official standards for high-quality biodiesel.
Alligators, in addition to being a novelty food, could also provide a feedstock for biodiesel. The alligator meat industry disposes of about 15 million pounds of alligator fat in landfills every year. Scientists discover the that oil can be extracted from the fat and used to make a high-quality biodiesel.
Continue reading… “Alligator fat could be a new source of biodiesel”
Scientists are engineering Rhodococcus bacteria to boost production of lipids, which can be converted into biodiesel.
While most attempts to engineer biofuel-producing microbes have focused on well-known organisms such as yeasts and E. coli, scientists also hope to co-opt the unique metabolic functions of some of the microbial world’s less-studied creatures. Anthony Sinskey and his team at MIT have been cataloguing the genomic secrets of Rhodococcus bacteria, soil-dwelling microbes known to eat a variety of toxic compounds. The goal is to make a biodiesel-producing organism that can use a variety of sources as fuel. “We have done a lot of the basic chemistry and biology,” says Sinskey. “Now we need to figure out how to maximize yields.”
Continue reading… “Scientists Developing A Better Microbe For Biofuel”
As the holidays quickly approach, many weight-loss resolutions are made in order to start the new year fresh. However, new discoveries may help with the battle of the bulge.
Continue reading… “New Molecule Discovered That May Help The Battle Of The Bulge”
A new method for diagnosing heart attacks very early on could improve a patient’s chances of survival and reduce the amount of permanent damage that he or she suffers. Normally, it takes up to six hours to diagnose a heart attack with certainty. The new approach can do so in just 10 minutes by analyzing tiny biochemical markers in the blood, such as lipids, sugars, and amino acids–a technique known as metabolic profiling.
Continue reading… “New Test Diagnoses Heart Attack In Minutes, Not Hours”