Designing microbial life to meet our energy and food needs

[DavidBrown]

This is a fascinating article about the movement to genetically design microbes and algae to create fuel, food, eat toxic waste, and many other things. It also illuminates that we live on a planet where microbes are the vast percentage of biodiversity and create the foundation on which large animals (our typical Zoochat obsessions) exist.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/03/m...world.html?src=me&ref=magazine&pagewanted=all

 

[nanoboy]

That guy reminds me of the archetypal villain in those techno-thriller novels that I read: rich, brilliant, flamboyant, obsessive. He even mentions "Jurassic Park".

I thought that the article would have mentioned Eric Drexler (a nanotechnology pioneer) and the 'grey goo' theory: trillions of nano-robots (analogous to Venter's miccrobes) self replicating and then consuming the planet. Be very afraid folks.

Nah, I need to be fair to the guy: he is a pioneer, and is doing some amazing work. However, I am not sure that conservation fits into their agenda. Indeed, see this quote from the article:

“That picture is in Malaysia,” he said. “Oil palm is one of the highest oil-producing crops, but we’re trying to see how that can be enhanced. First by understanding its genome and how it can be better. And second to understand what is the ecosystem of all the microbes that fit with it and help it, for example, to assimilate nutrients and prevent diseases.”

 

[DavidBrown]

“That picture is in Malaysia,” he said. “Oil palm is one of the highest oil-producing crops, but we’re trying to see how that can be enhanced. First by understanding its genome and how it can be better. And second to understand what is the ecosystem of all the microbes that fit with it and help it, for example, to assimilate nutrients and prevent diseases.”

If they could figure out how to produce palm oil through microbes then presumably people wouldn't have to cut down more forests to build plantations maybe?

 

[nanoboy]

If they could figure out how to produce palm oil through microbes then presumably people wouldn't have to cut down more forests to build plantations maybe?

Hmmm.... I am sceptical. Indeed, improvements in extracting resources usually lead to an increase in extraction rather than a decrease. Look at oil, gas, coal, and gold, to name a few. For all we know, there may be even more plantations popping up because the yields (and hence overall profits) would be higher.

These eccentric billionaires need a conservation lobby to keep them in line, and to remind them about conservation/biodiversity versus profits.