Telstra has revealed the addition of almost one million new mobile services in the six months to December 2011, but Sensis revenues plummeted 24 percent in 12 months.
Given the current cost of fuel, wouldn't it be great if diesel grew on trees? Well, according to one Montana State University professor, it bloody well does!
This story does not get any the less amazing the more you delve into
it, in fact just the opposite. Not only does diesel grow on trees, says
Professor Gary Strobel,
but it is a by-product of a fungus.
In fact, the Professor reckons that his
myco-diesel discovery is even more important than another fantastic
fungus-based discovery he made 15 years ago which involved an
anti-cancer drug called taxol.
Indeed, you can see why given the current concern over supply of fossil
fuels and the search for a 'green' alternative to, quite literally,
drive western economies forward.
Strobel is best described as a bio-explorer, hunting in remotes places
for a prey of microbes hidden within exotic plants. Plants such as the
ulmo trees in the Patagonia rain forest, for example, that contain the
diesel-producing fungus in question.
This particular fungus is known as Gliocladium roseum and Strobel
noticed that it produced gases, and compounds that are normally
associated with diesel. Apparently, Strobel says, it is the first time
an organism has been found that has so many 'diesel ingredients'
occurring in nature.
Now Strobel is investigating which enzymes are responsible for the
conversion of substrates into myco-diesel and has started screening the
genome of the fungi is concerned. Identify the genes responsible for
growing diesel on trees and you are closer to growing it in the lab.
Despite Government agencies and commercial concerns alike showing
interest, do not get your hopes up for running your car on fungus fuel
any time soon. Let's just hope the benefits of this biofuel do not get debunked.
David Bass
| For the fourth year in a row, IDC has placed content security provider Websense (NASDAQ: WBSN) at the top of the IDC Worldwide Web Security 2011 –…
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