Science-Videos

Converting algae to biofuel could be a sustainable solution to the need for liquid fuel in the United States, according to U-M researchers. Scientists in the chemical engineering department are working to create an effective method for converting the plant, which can be harvested continuously and grown in any water condition.

 

Phil Savage (http://che.engin.umich.edu/people/savage.html) is the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Chemical Engineering (http://che.engin.umich.edu/) at the University of Michigan. His research focus is on energy production from renewable resources, developing novel processes for converting biomass hydrogen, methane, and liquid transportation fuels.

 

Savage's ocean-going organism of choice is the green marine micro-alga of the genus Nannochloropsis. To make their one-minute biocrude, Savage and Julia Faeth, a doctoral student in Savage's lab, filled a steel pipe connector with 1.5 milliliters of wet algae, capped it and plunged it into 1,100-degree Fahrenheit sand. The small volume ensured that the algae was heated through, but with only a minute to warm up, the algae's temperature should have just grazed the 550-degree mark before the team pulled the reactor back out. Previously, Savage and his team heated the algae for times ranging from 10 to 90 minutes. They saw their best results, with about half of the algae converted to biocrude, after treating it for 10 to 40 minutes at 570 degrees.

 

DNA stores and replicates information. Special sequences of different nucleic acids (adenine, cytosine, guanine, thymine) encode life's blueprints. These nucleic acids can be divided into a classical part (massive core) and a quantum part (electron shell and single protons). The laws of quantum mechanics map the classical information (A,C,G,T) onto the configuration of electrons and position of single protons. Although DNA replication requires perfect copies of the classical information, the core that constitutes this information does not directly interact with the copying machine. Instead, only the quantum degrees of freedom are measured. Thus successful copying requires a correct translation of classical to quantum to classical information. It has been shown that the electronic system is well shielded from thermal noise. This leads to entanglement inside the DNA helix. It is an open question if this entanglement influences the genetic information processing. In this talk I will discuss possible consequences of entanglement for the information flow and the similarities and differences between classical computing, quantum computing and DNA information processing.

Dr. Kaku addresses the question of the possibility of utopia, the perfect society that people have tried to create throughout history. These dreams have not been realized because we have scarcity. However, now we have nanotechnology, and with nanotechnology, perhaps, says Dr. Michio Kaku, maybe in 100 years, we'll have something called the replicator, which will create enormous abundance.

Via Sakis Koukouvis

3D printing will soon allow digital object storage and transportation, as well as personal manufacturing and very high levels of product customization. This video by Christopher Barnatt of ExplainingTheFuture.com illustrates 3D printing today and in the future.

Via Szabolcs Kósa, Dr. Stefan Gruenwald