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Hydrogen-Emitting Microbe Examined

Concerned Onlooker wrote to mention an article at Science Daily discussing a microbe that lives in volcanic environments, which emits Hydrogen gas as a waste product. "As the world increasingly considers hydrogen as a potential biofuel, technology could benefit from having the genomes of such microbes. 'C. hydrogenoformans is one of the fastest-growing microbes that can convert water and carbon monoxide to hydrogen," remarks TIGR evolutionary biologist Jonathan Eisen, senior author of the PLoS Genetics study. "So if you're interested in making clean fuels, this microbe makes an excellent starting point.'"

10 of 192 comments (clear)

  1. So how long... by Mo6eB · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...before somebody patents it?

  2. let me get this straight... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    so... my future car is gonna run off of a bunch of microbes farting? sounds like something out of family guy

  3. Excellent! by commodoresloat · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now we can invent cars that run purely on the farts of microbes.

  4. bad stomach bug! by YuriGherkin · · Score: 1, Funny

    Imagine getting this bug in your gut. Lighting your farts would have *devastating* consequences!

  5. Eh? by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 4, Funny

    From the opening of the article:

    Take a pot of scalding water, remove all the oxygen, mix in a bit of poisonous carbon monoxide, and add a pinch of hydrogen gas. It sounds like a recipe for a witch's brew. It may be, but it is also the preferred environment for a microbe known as Carboxydothermus hydrogenoformans.

    If you remove the oxygen, won't you be left with Hydrogen anyway?

    --
    liqbase :: faster than paper
  6. i for one... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    ...welcome our new hydrogen-emitting overlords!

  7. Re:So it "converts" ... by value_added · · Score: 2, Funny

    I'd be careful of anything involving dyhdrogen monoxide.

    Dihydrogen Monoxide is not believed to be carcinogenic, although it is known to be a component of a number of cancer-causing agents. Additionally, the cause of approximately 20 percent of all cancers is not known, and there is reason to suspect that DHMO may play some role in these as well. Clearly, more research is needed before DHMO's role is fully enumerated.

    More information is available from the main website

  8. Just great.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    We'll engineer microbes that eat all the water and make it into hydrogen, and soon the planet is lifeless and all animals die of thirst.

  9. Re:So it "converts" ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    I bet half it's energy is wasted multiplying.

    I have the same problem...
  10. Prior art by Anne+Thwacks · · Score: 3, Funny
    Unfortuately, when this gets in to the wild, it mutates into a microbe that eats plastic, and aeoroplanes drop from the sky like stones.

    As described in a 1950's science fiction story.

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    Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII