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Rainforest Fungus Synthesizes Diesel
Fluffeh alerts us to a report of a fungus that naturally produces diesel fuel, or something very close to it. "A fungus that lives inside trees in the Patagonian rain forest naturally makes a mix of hydrocarbons that bears a striking resemblance to diesel, biologists announced today. And the fungus can grow on cellulose, a major component of tree trunks, blades of grass and stalks that is the most abundant carbon-based plant material on Earth. ... [T]the paper's authors admit that the technique is far from any sort of industrial production. 'This report presents no information on the cost-effectiveness or other details to make G. roseum an alternative fuel source,' they write." NPR has an interview with the fungus's discoverer.
I used to be your average Joe Sixpack. After 8 years of Bush, I'm now your average Joe 40-oz.
This seems funny at first, because comparing one 12 oz beer of a sixpack to a 40 oz of malt liquor yields more drinking. But, a sixpack of 12 oz beers is really 72 oz. So now I'm confused. Do you actually drink less beer now than you used to?
....Just look under the hood of one of DoD's tactical military vehicles. You'll find a turbocharged, multi-fuel Diesel, capable of burning anything from LH to bear grease.
Regards;
and algae is the most abundant carbon-based vegetation, not trees and grass.
"If still these truths be held to be
Self evident."
-Edna St. Vincent Millay
There is a rainforest in Patagonia. It's a temperate, as opposed to tropical, rainforest. Patagonia is a large area, and diverse, varying from near (ant)arctic to almost warm.