In the meantime promotion of the use of corn for ethanol in this country is causing political unrest in Mexico because it's driving up prices for their staple food.
I know. the idea that food should be used for anything other than feeding people is a really bad idea. corn uses minerals, nitrogen and phosphorus from the soil which is hard to replace except for the nitrogen. they really should have made the ethanol from renewable non-plant sources. solar power if that ever takes off- fusion energy same thing...
You know, it's almost as though we're all part of the same planet...
if only the powers that be knew that. they are too concerned about what osama bin laden had for munchies than anything truly important like I dont know maybe trying to lessen famine or disease or something equally ignored
genetic modification by definition is introducing a gene or several into a population to cause a desired effect. your gardener lack of PHD not withstanding, is still modifying the genepool of those plants. the nitpicking over GM has more to do with the method by which genes are introduced which it is claimed that genes can activate adjacent ones with negative consequences. there are ways around this however, at the local college plants are genetically modified and crossed with plants, bred over generations to weed out any oddities in their gene expression.
yes and do you remember what happened to that rice? it never did got used widescale- people wouldnt eat it because of the color. african nations were offered GM corn which they refused during FAMINE times. I understand if there was some apprehension but the idea of refusing to use the corn which otherwise would have actually saved lives is too far. the mere idea of there needing to be some sort of license on such things is to me appalling in every respect. this kind of thing is going to kill a lot of people unfortunately
we have been genetically modifying foods in one way or another for hundreds of years- only now are we using genes from OTHER species. crops engineered to be resistant to a certain pest can reduce the amount of pesticide or [ergot fungus] that gets into the food supply. there are genes that over time have broken or exist in similar but uncrossable species that are very useful. in the case of yellow rice for example, a gene for beta carotene was introduced resulting in a rice that can help prevent blindness in third world countries where rice is a major food crop. the gene that produces vitamin C in mammals is broken in primates and other species that if corrected could prevent scurvy in malnourished nations. it is good to test and try to understand the effects of genetic engineering but to blindly fear it because of things like this is irresponsible
benzene damages DNA no matter where it is. mitochrondrial DNA is however very very important. you get nearly 90% of your energy from the reactions performed in mitochrondria which use enzymes encoded by mitochrondrial DNA. so as you can see, if you damage that DNA it can be very bad for a cell.
why is it that when terrorists have some inifnitesimal amount of poison, it is enough to wipe out the entire planet,
but when big companies put the same infinitesimal amount in your body, its nothing to be worried about?
that is because terrorism is a lot more fun for the media and the current administration to fear-monger than something very rich companies put in our soda pop.
this is nothing new, sodium benzoate is used as a preservative in acidic foods and drinks and in the presence of citric acid it can evolve very small amounts of benzene. benzene is dangerous because it is what we call an intercalary mutagen- what that means is it can insert its self between the DNA helix grooves and that is what can mess up DNA copying and transcription [translation from DNA to RNA to proteins etc.] in the USA benzene is allowed at 10ppb but in soem states it can be lower [california is 5ppb] to give an idea of how much that is an olympic swimming pool is 25,000 gallons, 95,000 liters and so 10ppb would be about a gram of benzene taken by weight. soft drinks in other countries have been reported to have up to 85 ppb although this can be fixed by reducing the amount of sodium benzoate and or citric acid in combination. citric acid can be replaced by malic acid which imparts that sour flavor in drinks.
they already tried that, it didnt work. cellulose takes 2 days on average to be hydrolyzed into usable fuel. they use starch because it is immediately broken down into sugars. enzymes in saliva can break down starch in less than a few minutes producing that sweet taste after holding a piece of uncooked spaghetti in your mouth. animals have special bacteria in their stomachs which break down cellulose but it is a very slow process. one that isnt so great for powering cars.
I also mentioned that because cars have a HORRIBLE efficiency problem the fuel cell more than makes up for the lower amount of total energy generated from the starch.
Re:Required Post: ER/EI
on
Driving on Starch
·
· Score: 2, Informative
you are correct that you put more energy into a system in this case hydrogen production than you get out but hydrogen is meant to be an energy carrier not a true energy source. it is useful when your battery technology relies on crummy Ni/Cd or lead acid technology. it's useful when you can make more usable power from gasoline once it has been converted into hydrogen and carbon dioxide. it isnt the least bit pathetic as you suggest.
hydrogen is very light, one molecule of hydrogen weighs 2 units where one gasoline [octane] molecule weighs 114 units. gasoline had a density anywhere between.6 and.8 kg/liter and each gram of gas gives 40 kilojoules of energy where hydrogen gives about 122 kilojoules. so 1 liter of gas gives 24000 to 32000 kilojoules while 1 kg starch=4/27 kg hydrogen which is 18000 kilojoules which is about 2/3 what gasoline gives. this doesnt take into account that cars that use gasoline are about 20% efficient while a very good fuel cell can get 60% efficiency. all in all starch gives 1.5 times the USEFUL energy that gasoline does with current technology.
gasoline the new starch
on
Driving on Starch
·
· Score: 0, Redundant
gasoline is mostly made of octanes, heptanes and similar hydrocarbons which can be degraded to hydrogen and CO2 using a similar number of enzymes. it also doesnt need so much new infrastructure that starch would except it might be a problem getting the gasoline to dissolve in water with the enzymes... detergents might be able to fix that though.
The abbreviations are: PPP, pentose phosphate pathway; G1P, glucose-1-phosphate; G6P, glucose-6-phosphate; 6PG, 6-phosphogluconate; Ru5P, ribulose-5-phosphate; and Pi, inorganic phosphate. The enzymes are: #1, glucan phosphorylase; #2, phosphoglucomutase; #3, G-6-P dehydrogenase; #4, 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase, #5 Phosphoribose isomerase; #6, Ribulose 5-phosphate epimerase; #7, Transaldolase; #8, Transketolase, #9, Triose phosphate isomerase; #10, Aldolase, #11, Phosphoglucose isomerase: #12, Fructose-1, 6-bisphosphatase; and #13, Hydrogenase. it looks like they built it like this: starch=>glucose [amylase]=>glycolysis=>pyruvate decarboxylation=>TCA cycle and finally liberating the hydrogen from protons and electrons from the TCA. I wonder from this is how they deal with the enzyme's need for cofactors, corrosion, stability of enzymes and side reactions. it looks promising for sure but it looks like they have a lot of work ahead of them. there is also the problem of the starch settling in the tank and thus being unavailable for the reaction unless that is where it happens in that case what about H2 build up? lastly, with the problem of corn shortages being possible for ethanol, what exactly will happen when starch is used instead as it is also taken from food plant sources?
But whatever happened to taking responsibility for what you do? Why would the university expose itself to lawsuits unnecessarily? that would be true if the RIAA did good research on who it goes after but it doesnt. the RIAA goes afgter people to scare any real pirates into not stealing music. if the university just sits back and watches people [many times innocent no less] they run the risk of losing students and that of course is much worse for them than fighting with the students. they have a lot more power to step in and stop the RIAA's somewhat illegal tyranny.
do no evil just became do slightly less evil than otherwise.
that was meant in reference to google's earlier stance on google china where it was decided that refusing to cooperate with china's censorship of its people was not worth it. it was in fact voiced on slashdot on more than one occasion on slashdot that this wasnt very good thing for google to do it. it was not meant as a flame in any way shape or form, just a comment on google's history and how it reflects on the current topic.
google probably uses the search associations for ads or something- but at the rate that people use tor, cookie cullers etc. it seems to be a mute point.
At any rate, as all this is evolving, why not give Google the benefit of the doubt. I say wait and see if there's actually a problem.
they need to be watched just like any other company- just because their motto is do no evil [google.cn] doesnt mean they need to abide by that. especially if their laast stockholder vote says anything - do no evil just became do slightly less evil than otherwise.
encourage women to work in formerly all male careers instead of the 1950's way and that's a start. quit assuming that women cant or dont want to go into computer fields because of its complexity- in short they're not idiots stop treating them that way. women deserve to have the same opportunity, encouragement and respect that their male peers do- that is what they want.
they claim that there isnt enough time to list off how much was infringed which then brings up the point that they waited way too long to make their charges even if they were actually correct [unlikely to begin with] which also means that they likely would have waited past what is considered timely. you couldnt do this to any person under the law [RIAA for example] so why should a company be able to do this? there has to be something illegal about this whole thing.
they aren't flying through storms, they fly AROUND storms- they aren't stupid. their choices increase from just straight up delays to either flying around a storm or a delay [they didn't do this already?] it is a good improvement- the delay could be a lot less and if it works well things will get better.
stockpiling patents at a rate that alarms large companies such as IBM and HP
if patents were issued based on good standards it shouldnt worry them but they're not. they're used as weapons to destroy any competition that could reduce their profits rather than actually innovating anything. in short, patents are doing the exact opposite that they were originally supposed to do.
the selling of gift certificates isnt illegal but the use of them is frowned upon and thus anyone selling them is brought into the whole mess. The RIAA and company represent a group of interests that foolishly cut off any legal way to try out music or be locked in with DRM. that is why they lose cash, you cant screw people like that and expect to make MORE cash forever. if they were smart they would realize that they'd make more money by giving people the legal freedom to listen to music more freely than current and piracy would probably decrease as well- why pirate what is easy and cheap to begin with?
Slashdot Mirror
I know. the idea that food should be used for anything other than feeding people is a really bad idea. corn uses minerals, nitrogen and phosphorus from the soil which is hard to replace except for the nitrogen. they really should have made the ethanol from renewable non-plant sources. solar power if that ever takes off- fusion energy same thing...
if only the powers that be knew that. they are too concerned about what osama bin laden had for munchies than anything truly important like I dont know maybe trying to lessen famine or disease or something equally ignored
genetic modification by definition is introducing a gene or several into a population to cause a desired effect. your gardener lack of PHD not withstanding, is still modifying the genepool of those plants. the nitpicking over GM has more to do with the method by which genes are introduced which it is claimed that genes can activate adjacent ones with negative consequences. there are ways around this however, at the local college plants are genetically modified and crossed with plants, bred over generations to weed out any oddities in their gene expression.
yes and do you remember what happened to that rice? it never did got used widescale- people wouldnt eat it because of the color. african nations were offered GM corn which they refused during FAMINE times. I understand if there was some apprehension but the idea of refusing to use the corn which otherwise would have actually saved lives is too far. the mere idea of there needing to be some sort of license on such things is to me appalling in every respect. this kind of thing is going to kill a lot of people unfortunately
we have been genetically modifying foods in one way or another for hundreds of years- only now are we using genes from OTHER species. crops engineered to be resistant to a certain pest can reduce the amount of pesticide or [ergot fungus] that gets into the food supply. there are genes that over time have broken or exist in similar but uncrossable species that are very useful. in the case of yellow rice for example, a gene for beta carotene was introduced resulting in a rice that can help prevent blindness in third world countries where rice is a major food crop. the gene that produces vitamin C in mammals is broken in primates and other species that if corrected could prevent scurvy in malnourished nations. it is good to test and try to understand the effects of genetic engineering but to blindly fear it because of things like this is irresponsible
benzene damages DNA no matter where it is. mitochrondrial DNA is however very very important. you get nearly 90% of your energy from the reactions performed in mitochrondria which use enzymes encoded by mitochrondrial DNA. so as you can see, if you damage that DNA it can be very bad for a cell.
that is because terrorism is a lot more fun for the media and the current administration to fear-monger than something very rich companies put in our soda pop.
damn it was ascorbic acid not citric... anyway here's the wiki link with a little more detail: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_benzoate
this is nothing new, sodium benzoate is used as a preservative in acidic foods and drinks and in the presence of citric acid it can evolve very small amounts of benzene. benzene is dangerous because it is what we call an intercalary mutagen- what that means is it can insert its self between the DNA helix grooves and that is what can mess up DNA copying and transcription [translation from DNA to RNA to proteins etc.] in the USA benzene is allowed at 10ppb but in soem states it can be lower [california is 5ppb] to give an idea of how much that is an olympic swimming pool is 25,000 gallons, 95,000 liters and so 10ppb would be about a gram of benzene taken by weight. soft drinks in other countries have been reported to have up to 85 ppb although this can be fixed by reducing the amount of sodium benzoate and or citric acid in combination. citric acid can be replaced by malic acid which imparts that sour flavor in drinks.
they already tried that, it didnt work. cellulose takes 2 days on average to be hydrolyzed into usable fuel. they use starch because it is immediately broken down into sugars. enzymes in saliva can break down starch in less than a few minutes producing that sweet taste after holding a piece of uncooked spaghetti in your mouth. animals have special bacteria in their stomachs which break down cellulose but it is a very slow process. one that isnt so great for powering cars.
I also mentioned that because cars have a HORRIBLE efficiency problem the fuel cell more than makes up for the lower amount of total energy generated from the starch.
you are correct that you put more energy into a system in this case hydrogen production than you get out but hydrogen is meant to be an energy carrier not a true energy source. it is useful when your battery technology relies on crummy Ni/Cd or lead acid technology. it's useful when you can make more usable power from gasoline once it has been converted into hydrogen and carbon dioxide. it isnt the least bit pathetic as you suggest.
hydrogen is very light, one molecule of hydrogen weighs 2 units where one gasoline [octane] molecule weighs 114 units. gasoline had a density anywhere between .6 and .8 kg/liter and each gram of gas gives 40 kilojoules of energy where hydrogen gives about 122 kilojoules. so 1 liter of gas gives 24000 to 32000 kilojoules while 1 kg starch=4/27 kg hydrogen which is 18000 kilojoules which is about 2/3 what gasoline gives. this doesnt take into account that cars that use gasoline are about 20% efficient while a very good fuel cell can get 60% efficiency. all in all starch gives 1.5 times the USEFUL energy that gasoline does with current technology.
gasoline is mostly made of octanes, heptanes and similar hydrocarbons which can be degraded to hydrogen and CO2 using a similar number of enzymes. it also doesnt need so much new infrastructure that starch would except it might be a problem getting the gasoline to dissolve in water with the enzymes... detergents might be able to fix that though.
The abbreviations are: PPP, pentose phosphate pathway; G1P, glucose-1-phosphate; G6P, glucose-6-phosphate; 6PG, 6-phosphogluconate; Ru5P, ribulose-5-phosphate; and Pi, inorganic phosphate. The enzymes are: #1, glucan phosphorylase; #2, phosphoglucomutase; #3, G-6-P dehydrogenase; #4, 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase, #5 Phosphoribose isomerase; #6, Ribulose 5-phosphate epimerase; #7, Transaldolase; #8, Transketolase, #9, Triose phosphate isomerase; #10, Aldolase, #11, Phosphoglucose isomerase: #12, Fructose-1, 6-bisphosphatase; and #13, Hydrogenase.
it looks like they built it like this: starch=>glucose [amylase]=>glycolysis=>pyruvate decarboxylation=>TCA cycle and finally liberating the hydrogen from protons and electrons from the TCA. I wonder from this is how they deal with the enzyme's need for cofactors, corrosion, stability of enzymes and side reactions. it looks promising for sure but it looks like they have a lot of work ahead of them. there is also the problem of the starch settling in the tank and thus being unavailable for the reaction unless that is where it happens in that case what about H2 build up? lastly, with the problem of corn shortages being possible for ethanol, what exactly will happen when starch is used instead as it is also taken from food plant sources?
since when was my right not to be essentially spied on a violation of Google's privacy?
who the fuck keeps modding parent down? for that matter why waste those precious mod points on a comment modded 1 to begin with?
they need to be watched just like any other company- just because their motto is do no evil [google.cn] doesnt mean they need to abide by that. especially if their laast stockholder vote says anything - do no evil just became do slightly less evil than otherwise.
encourage women to work in formerly all male careers instead of the 1950's way and that's a start. quit assuming that women cant or dont want to go into computer fields because of its complexity- in short they're not idiots stop treating them that way. women deserve to have the same opportunity, encouragement and respect that their male peers do- that is what they want.
they claim that there isnt enough time to list off how much was infringed which then brings up the point that they waited way too long to make their charges even if they were actually correct [unlikely to begin with] which also means that they likely would have waited past what is considered timely. you couldnt do this to any person under the law [RIAA for example] so why should a company be able to do this? there has to be something illegal about this whole thing.
they aren't flying through storms, they fly AROUND storms- they aren't stupid. their choices increase from just straight up delays to either flying around a storm or a delay [they didn't do this already?] it is a good improvement- the delay could be a lot less and if it works well things will get better.
if patents were issued based on good standards it shouldnt worry them but they're not. they're used as weapons to destroy any competition that could reduce their profits rather than actually innovating anything. in short, patents are doing the exact opposite that they were originally supposed to do.
the selling of gift certificates isnt illegal but the use of them is frowned upon and thus anyone selling them is brought into the whole mess. The RIAA and company represent a group of interests that foolishly cut off any legal way to try out music or be locked in with DRM. that is why they lose cash, you cant screw people like that and expect to make MORE cash forever. if they were smart they would realize that they'd make more money by giving people the legal freedom to listen to music more freely than current and piracy would probably decrease as well- why pirate what is easy and cheap to begin with?
you misspelled "extortion."