Certain strains of bacteria can pull magnetic materials out of their butt, so to speak. And scientists at Ames Laboratory want to imitate it in an effort to make smaller memory or medical devices.
Several strains of bacteria can produce fairly uniform particles of magnetite (three iron atoms, four oxygens) measuring about 50 nanometers across. (A nanometer is a billionth of a meter.) The particles are a natural byproduct of their metabolic system. The crystals in this bacteria are also bound in membranes to form chains. The bacteria use these chains to navigate and orientate themselves to the magnetic field.
Those black things inside the microbe are magnetic particles it is forming.
(Credit: Ames Laboratory)For you and me, producing those particles is more difficult. Ferromagnetic particles can clump in chemical processes, which can reduce the desirable magnetic properties.
The team at Ames (which is funded by the Department of Energy) first identified proteins within the bacteria that create the magnetic crystals and then added polymers to slow down the reaction. Eventually, the group produced synthetic particle chains with properties that were similar to the natural ones. Ames is now trying to create cobalt-ferrite particles. These have interesting commercial properties but aren't made by bacteria.
Bacteria are the factory workers of the future. Several companies are trying to produce fuel by harnessing the metabolism of natural, genetically enhanced and synthetic organisms. Others, such as Cambrios Technologies, are trying to use microorganisms to look for cracks in plane wings and to help produce chips.Algae's not the only organism that can be used as a feedstock for biofuel.
BP will collaborate with Arizona State University to try to figure out a way of using cyanobacteria, a photosynthetic form of bacteria, as a feedstock for diesel or synthetic petroleum. Ideally, the bacteria could be cultivated in large, contained plots of land baked by the sun--Arizona has a lot of that. The bacteria also consume carbon dioxide to grow. Thus, carbon dioxide could be pumped in from a power plant into the contained bacteria farm. The company could thus make money from selling carbon credits and selling fuel feedstock.
Financial details of the deal, announced Friday, were not disclosed.
GreenFuel Technologies has a similar project in Arizona under way but with algae. A lot of companies, in fact, are trying to concoct feedstocks out of algae. The race now is to figure out who can come up with a microorganism and a process that results in the cheapest, highest-energy feedstock. One of the challenges of algae: separating the single-celled buggers from the water they grow in.
Microbes are hot these days. Some companies, such as Cambrios Technologies, are trying to figure out ways to use microorganisms in industrial processes while others are trying to get microorganisms to convert wood chips into ethanol. Others are working on bacteria-based fuel cells.
Earlier this year, BP signed deals with University of California at Berkeley and the University of Illinois.
Subunits in a cellular photosynthetic reaction center
(Credit: Arizona State University)Man-made supercomputers are fast. Photosynthetic bacteria are just as fast.
Arizona State University researchers have learned that, during photosynthesis, bacteria may realign crucial proteins very quickly. This allows the bacteria to capture nearly every photon of available light. How quickly? A millionth of a millionth of a second, about the same time it takes for a supercomputer to carry out a single flop. To make measurements in such tiny time scales, the scientists used an ultrafast laser facility.
Moving those proteins around rapidly allows the bacteria to capture most of the potential energy in their biological circuitry. Thus, photosynthesis can take place under less than perfect conditions.
The research teams will continue to analyze and study the crucial protein movement and the role it plays in photosynthesis.
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