Manmade bioluminscent algae that makes light from CO2 - Polidicks

[quote][B]Biochemist creates CO2-eating light that runs on algae [/B] Our atmosphere is filling up with CO2 and we seem to be the major cause of that. The generally accepted solution seems to be cutting back on emissions as quickly as possible, but implementing such cuts is problematic because everyone has to agree to do more, which essentially ends up costing a lot of time and money. There is an alternative to such measures, though. Instead of relying entirely on cutting emissions, why don’t we start taking CO2 out of the atmosphere? That’s exactly what biochemist Pierre Calleja is trying to do, and his solution almost sounds too good to be true. Calleja has developed a lighting system that requires no electricity for power. Instead it draws CO2 from the atmosphere and uses it to produce light as well as oxygen as a byproduct. The key ingredient to this eco-friendly light? Algae. Certain types of algae can feed off of organic carbon as well as sunlight, and in the process produce carbohydrate energy for themselves as well as oxygen as a waste product. Cajella’s lamps consist of algae-filled water along with a light and battery system. During the day the algae produce energy from sunlight that is then stored in the batteries. Then at night the energy is used to power the light. However, as the algae can also produce energy from carbon, sunlight isn’t required for the process to work. That means such lights can be placed where there is no natural light and the air will effectively be cleaned on a daily basis. What isn’t discussed in the video is how much maintenance such a light needs. However, the good news is algae can also act as a biofuel once separated from the water, so even if the lights need a water change out every so often, the waste algae just forms another type of fuel where as the water can be recycled.[/quote] [url=http://www.geek.com/articles/geek-cetera/biochemist-creates-co2-eating-light-that-runs-on-algae-2012055/]Source[/url] That's pretty cool

Play a prank on someone by pouring a bunch into their exhaust pipe and watch as they wonder why the fuck their car keeps spewing light instead of smoke

So if I eat some of these algae I can emit light from my mouth when I breathe out? :v:

$selfillum 1

So... What's the catch? I mean, if you can produce enough of these, you've pretty much solved our damaging the atmosphere problem... Is this another one of those 'awesome solution never to be heard from again' kind of deals?

Terrible article "Biochemist creates CO2-eating light that runs on algae" The title makes sense, but its so awkwardly written

Instead of killing all our animals with our technology and industry in the future, we'll gene splice all the animals and plants into [I]being[/I] our technology and industry. Can't wait 'till the day I'm connecting monitors to a dolphin's brain so I can play my favorite games.

[QUOTE=SweetSwifter;35861221]So... What's the catch? I mean, if you can produce enough of these, you've pretty much solved our damaging the atmosphere problem... Is this another one of those 'awesome solution never to be heard from again' kind of deals?[/QUOTE] Awesome solutions that never get heard of again are because of strict governmental standards put in place to prevent massive scientific fuckups that will doom us all, since most of the time there's some sort of massive flaw found in testing that would probably result in a few million deaths. It's one of those "We didn't test it properly so now it's evolved to consume the oxygen and nitrogen present in the atmosphere and we're all just a giant blob" kind of deals.

[QUOTE=SweetSwifter;35861221]So... What's the catch? I mean, if you can produce enough of these, you've pretty much solved our damaging the atmosphere problem... Is this another one of those 'awesome solution never to be heard from again' kind of deals?[/QUOTE] That it doesn't have any natural enemies so just dumping it into the oceans and letting it grow freely will fuck up the ecosystem? Just my guess.

There's a light in it, the algae aren't bio-luminescent.

Hmmm, if we can adapt this to survive in very cold environments, seeding Mars with this kinda microorganism would be handy for terraforming the Red Planet. Maybe start by seeding the dry-ice poles.

[QUOTE=DireAvenger;35861241]Awesome solutions that never get heard of again are because of strict governmental standards put in place to prevent massive scientific fuckups that will doom us all, since most of the time there's some sort of massive flaw found in testing that would probably result in a few million deaths. It's one of those "We didn't test it properly so now it's evolved to consume the oxygen and nitrogen present in the atmosphere and we're all just a giant blob" kind of deals.[/QUOTE] Good point, that. I didn't look at it from that perspective... I guess anything being deployed on a wide-scale needs to be thoroughly tested... Asbestos comes to mind. [editline]7th May 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=Fear_Fox;35861249]That it doesn't have any natural enemies so just dumping it into the oceans and letting it grow freely will fuck up the ecosystem? Just my guess.[/QUOTE] Also a valid point. I'd more see it as creating CO2-eating farms with the stuff... Not sure how algae reproduce and spread. If it's purely by water, you could contain it more easily.

[QUOTE=Mingebox;35861259]There's a light in it, the algae aren't bio-luminescent.[/QUOTE] I wish science news sites would get their shit together and actually understand stuff instead of screwing up and trying to sensationalize everything. Same with the 1.5c phase velocity thing.

[QUOTE=Yahnich;35861263]eventually all the co2 is gone and all plant life DIES WE'RE DOOOOOOOMED[/QUOTE] i dont think we'd have a problem making a co2 generator if that was the case

All the lights in the world replaced by this. A few decades later, we run out of CO2, another major crisis.

This is pretty cool. Then again ALL algea produce oxygen from Co2, this one just lights up in the process.(In fact all plants do) They write the article like they just invented photosynthesis.

[QUOTE=SweetSwifter;35861221]So... What's the catch? I mean, if you can produce enough of these, you've pretty much solved our damaging the atmosphere problem...[/QUOTE] Uh, no. Methane is a much bigger issue than CO2. Methane is a more potent greenhouse gas, it's 21 times more effective at trapping infrared radiation than carbon dioxide. Oh, and the clathrate gun hypothesis.

[QUOTE=SweetSwifter;35861221]So... What's the catch? I mean, if you can produce enough of these, you've pretty much solved our damaging the atmosphere problem... Is this another one of those 'awesome solution never to be heard from again' kind of deals?[/QUOTE] I doubt you'd be able to produce enough to counter, let alone reverse, what we spew out into the atmosphere... but it helps. Perhaps they die really easily and keep them alive used more energy than they put out.

[QUOTE=Jabberwocky;35861857]I doubt you'd be able to produce enough to counter, let alone reverse, what we spew out into the atmosphere... but it helps. Perhaps they die really easily and keep them alive used more energy than they put out.[/QUOTE] The world is already covered in oxygen producing and co2 killing stuff. They are called, tree's. grass, algea and any other plant that has annything green on it. And everything in the world uses more energy then it puts out. If not our energy woes would be over.

That's a wrap, blow up the sun

[QUOTE=SweetSwifter;35861221]So... What's the catch? I mean, if you can produce enough of these, you've pretty much solved our damaging the atmosphere problem... Is this another one of those 'awesome solution never to be heard from again' kind of deals?[/QUOTE] Well take it this way, normal plants grab co2 as well and turn it into oxygen. Unless this algea is super effective in what it does, it's probably not going to do a whole lot. Apart from maybe allowing us to use less power.

I want one. If anyone asks what it is, I'll just tell them it's nuclear waste. "Can't I touch it?" "WHOA SHIT It's radioactive you fool slow down!"

[QUOTE=SweetSwifter;35861221]So... What's the catch? I mean, if you can produce enough of these, you've pretty much solved our damaging the atmosphere problem... Is this another one of those 'awesome solution never to be heard from again' kind of deals?[/QUOTE] Algae are already everywhere. The photosynthetic algea already convert CO2 to O2, these ones just also use the energy to produce light.

[QUOTE=Yahnich;35861263]eventually all the co2 is gone and all plant life DIES WE'RE DOOOOOOOMED[/QUOTE] We do something really hard called breathing. Because it's not because the entire Earth's athmosphere would be filled to the brim with Oxygen. We'd get fucking high off the oxygen, possibly even black out in the end. But, shit, lacking CO2 is the least of our problems.

[QUOTE=mac338;35861237]Instead of killing all our animals with our technology and industry in the future, we'll gene splice all the [b]animals and plants into [I]being[/I] our technology and industry.[/b] Can't wait 'till the day I'm connecting monitors to a dolphin's brain so I can play my favorite games.[/QUOTE] [img]http://i.imgur.com/5TUZX.jpg[/img] ?