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Microbes Produce Precursor To Missile Propellent
Makarand writes "According to this article on ScienceDaily.com microbiologists at the Michigan State University have
created strains of bacteria which can convert certain types of sugars into a non-natural synthetic material,
called butanetriol, which is used to produce a missile propellant (butanetriol trinitrate). The DNA
of bacteria like Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas fragi was altered so that these
bacteria could act
as minifactories producing butanetriol. Interestingly, butanetriol is a precursor to two
cholesterol-lowering drugs making this process useful in both pharmaceutical and defense applications."
more missile propellent. God forbid we should research a cure for AIDS or Cancer when we can research new ways to create missile propellent! Because missile propellent is so much more important than real scientific research these days in America. Gotta arm ourselves because everyone except us is a terrorist!
You may disagree with my cynicism but you know I'm right...
You're right, I wouldn't steal a car. But if it were possible, I sure as hell would download one!
If it converts sugar into anything it could have a beneficial effect in that sugar comsumption is known to 'assist' people in gaining weight. Start using the sugar supplies to make weapons then youre not going to have as much for making sweet foodstuffs. hence over time less obesity. However if you do make weapons out of sugars then youre enabling a means of reducing the consumer base anyway! Not a very nice way of reducing people's weight or morally ethical
It could be that the purpose of your life is only to serve as a warning to others.
The bacterial flora in my gut are also capable of producing a lethal nerve gas (lethal to the nerve cells of surrounding noses, at the very least).
I like the idea of using sugar as a propellant. Sugar is a very easily renewable resource and regular table sugar breaks down into carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. c12 h22 o11 which of course are all relatively friendly to our environment. I would like to see more cars run off of sugar based fuels IE ethanol.
There is or can be built a machine that can simulate any physical object. -Church-Turing principle
..does that mean that we will have Intercontiental Beerlistic Missles?
-- If you think my attitude stinks, you should smell my fingers.
Now I know why I fart like a space shuttle launch after eating Indian food. Guess I'd better not try lighting them.
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
First thought...just how much of this propellant can be produced by these microbes? It really seems like you'd need quite a bit to launch a missle. Can this be done from the work of some microbes?
Second...people will complain about how money is being spent on military research, but let's look at the positive here. It's a precursor to lowering colesterol. Who knows when we'll be working on developing some sort of funky things to melt enemy tires or something and come up with a compound that kills only cancer cells and leaves all other cells unharmed. It's exciting in an odd sort of way.
"He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lampposts...for support rather than illumination." - Andrew Lang
There is something in that sentence that bothers me. Can you guess? Thats right. That butanetriol is non-natural!
If sugars are natural and bacteria are natural, how can their interaction produce something non-natural? Why have scientists come along and declared this very natural process a unnatural?
my cat's breath smells like cat food
Stage trees anyone?
There are other uses for this sort of thing.
The shoesting budget on which it was created ($62M 40M pounds, for those of you across the pond) could have been better spent if the launch was cheaper.
Perhaps holding out hope would have better chances of paying off if they had another million that didn't go into fuel.
I feel that this sort of technology should be given lots of support. Projects like beagle2 define my favorite human drive, the drive to explore and learn. Just beacuse this could kill someone is no reason to dis it.
md5sum
d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e
Assuming that the obvious difficulties of maintaining bacteria in a hostile environment such as Mars could be surmounted it seems that this biotechnology would serve as the basis for manufacturing the fuel needed for the return flight leg of a manned Mars mission. Would have to supply carbon in a form other than sugar, perhaps all that frozen C02? And let's not forget about the moon, produce massive amounts of rocket fuel there in order to send the astronauts to Mars in the first place.
This might have implications for abiotic oil research.
If microbes can produce proto-rocket fuel, is it such a stretch to believe they can create crude oil as well?
3D Printing Tips and Tricks at Zheng3.com
I find it kind of ironic that there are soooo many people that want to bitch about any technological breakthrough or scientific achievment that has military application, yet the internet itself largely started due to the US military's network. The reason most of us on slashdot have multiple personal computers is the military pumped uncountable dollars into computer research and advancement because it helped them fight wars better. We would not have been able to put a man into space if it were not because of the military, and NASA probably wouldn't be able to put anything into space even today if not for the military due to the cost of lauch facilities (the USAF maintains and operates all launch facilities).
The fact is that a very large number of the things we enjoy everyday is a direct result of the military. Yes, wars are bad. Yes, it'd be nice if we took all the money devoted to fighting wars and devoted it soley to pure scientific research and embetterment of society. But the (percieved) need to defend our way of life is a more immediate and stronger driving force in the government. Because of this, billions of dollars are dumped into research and, since we have not destroyed ourself yet, we have reaped many benefits from the military's research.
If I drive fast enough at the red light, it'll appear green.
Rocket propellent would help the PR of these microbes. The conversation here seems to say missiles kill people (they do), so lets say rockets do not, they launch for exploration or research. Though busting a hole through the sky with very large rockets it is probably best to leave a steam trail than solid rocket fuel residue but they could be used as they are, boosters.
I eat my grapes at room temperature, cuz the cold ones hurt my teeth
Jeasus, don't you liberal wankers ever get tired of being wrong?
Sugarcane offers the highest photosynthetic efficiency (8% of insolation converted to chemical bonds in glucose) of any measured in plants. That's about the same as cheap solar PV cells, without the vastly higher costs of manufacturing and pollution from PV cells. Sugarcane is an interesting storage medium for the energy, with cheap, durable, lossless packaging, compared with the inefficiency of high voltage powerlines from PV farms. However, even the best fuelcells get only about 40% of the stored energy from ethanol from distilled sugarcane (rum), which might just equal the overall PV cells efficiency in competing PV/glucose solar systems.
The little critters usually seem more efficient than the big ones. Is there a scalable (farmable) photosynthetic microbe species that beats the 8% sugarcane efficiency? Does it also offer the excellent carbon sequestration benefits of the sugarcane? Is it tasty?
--
make install -not war
You are the lucky recipient of the 500,000th positive mod point to be wasted on a "they should be working on a cure for cancer instead" troll! Tell him what he's won, Bob!
Well, Lisa, our lucky winner Kethinov will have all work that previously would've been done to make other things in his life donated to the cause for cancer. His auto mechanic will begin working on a cure for cancer instead of fixing his car. His favorite restraunt chefs will be joining the cause as well. His alumni association has been contacted, and all of his university professors from English to Biology to Statistics will be dropping all of their research too to start on the bold search for a cure to cancer because he has decreed that all other avenues of work are worthless as long as cancer does not have a cure.
But wait, Bob, there's more!
To avoid any slightest hint of hypocrisy, Kethinov has been fired from his current job which did not allow him to work towards the cure for cancer. Now he will be free to pursue any job which advances a cure for cancer.
Congratulations!
2004 will be the year where the US launches the first balistic bacteria at al quada ;-]
M
Don't take this comment to mean that I support or protest US involvement in Iraq. In some countries that the US helps, missles and other weapons are needed to get medicines, food, and supplies beyond the local warlords, and into the homes of the starving. Perhaps you should do an "Ask Slashdot" on how best to aid countries with medicine and supplies without the use of force while local warlords and/or dictators view the surpressing the aid as a means of keeping the population under their command. I can imagine that we COULD try to just call Pizza Hut and Walgreens to deliver but I can't seem to find the telephone numbers in some of those countries.
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