E. coli is on a diet. Researchers have created a strain of the lab workhorse bacterium — full name Escherichia coli — that grows by consuming carbon dioxide instead of sugars or other organic molecules.
The achievement is a milestone, say scientists, because it drastically alters the inner workings of one of biology’s most popular model organisms. And in the future, CO2-eating E. coli could be used to make organic carbon molecules that could be used as biofuels or to produce food. Products made in this way would have lower emissions compared with conventional production methods, and could potentially remove the gas from the air. The work is published in Cell1 on 27 November.
SNIP: This is bu$ywork.
I’m no scientist and it’s been many decades since high school biology but if you removed al the CO2 from the air the plants would die. And then no oxygen and we would die. … yeah sounds like a plan.
Looks like the creation of a form of population control. When this strain of E-Coil super bacteria comes in contact with humans & animals, it will be an incurable infection that can be spread through the air as well as touch, since it has to be airborne to eat CO2. I read an article about it yesterday where the scientists in Israel that developed it have determined it will still need some sugar to survive.
Whoopee – – We’re all gonna DIE!
That explains why the air around septic systems is always so fresh and invigorating.
As far as making bio fuels by using it – I question the cost vs conventional fuels.
Most bio fuels I’m aware of are quite a bit more expensive to make than regular petroleum fuels or coal.
We already have those. They are called plants, algae and cyanobacteria. Better yet, they are solar powered.
More seriously, what food do the bacteria require since cracking the CO2 molecule is energy intensive?
Answer in article: Pyruvate. It would be cheaper to feed them caviar.
I’ve read that book and it didn’t end well.
@Billy Fuster:
Country Joe?
Reminds me of a book called Ill Wind, about an oil eating bacteria that gets loose and eats anything containing petrochemicals, including plastics.
I may have to change my Escherichia coli insult: E. COLI eats shit!
In other news, C02 levels mysteriously plummet in San Francisco.
Every time alleged scientists claim to have made safer and more beneficial biological creations, the results are always harmful to humans and the environment. That is their real agenda.
https://newspunch.com/us-government-human-experiments/
https://www.businessinsider.com/military-government-secret-experiments-biological-chemical-weapons-2016-9
16.01.2018 –
THE PENTAGON BIO-WEAPONS
“The US Army regularly produces deadly viruses, bacteria and toxins in direct violation of the UN Convention on the prohibition of Biological Weapons. Hundreds of thousands of unwitting people are systematically exposed to dangerous pathogens and other incurable diseases. Bio warfare scientists using diplomatic cover test man-made viruses at Pentagon bio laboratories in 25 countries across the world. These US bio-laboratories are funded by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) under a $ 2.1 billion military program– Cooperative Biological Engagement Program (CBEP), and are located in former Soviet Union countries such as Georgia and Ukraine, the Middle East, South East Asia and Africa.”
https://southfront.org/pentagon-bio-weapons/
CO2 is easy, plant trees. But since that is not a priority the whole thing is a hoax.
Yeast eats sugar, pisses alcohol, and farts carbon dioxide. And that’s how alcohol and bubbles get into beer.