Newspapers to Fuel Cars : Discovery News

Yesterday’s news could be tomorrow’s fuel.Tulane University scientists discovered a strain of clostridia bacteria, dubbed “TU-103,” that can devour old newspapers to produce butanol, a substitute for gasoline.Old editions of the Times Picayune, New Orleans’ daily newspaper, have been successfully used by the researchers to produce butanol from the cellulose in the paper. Cellulose is a structural material in plants.TU-103 is the first bacterial strain found in nature not genetically engineered to produce butanol directly from cellulose. It is also the only strain yet found that can grow in the presence of oxygen. Keeping bacterial fermentation chambers air tight makes other strains more expensive to work with.”This discovery could reduce the cost to produce bio-butanol,” said David Mullin, who’s lab discovered the bacterial strain, in a Tulane press release.”In addition to possible savings on the price per gallon, as a fuel, bio-butanol produced from cellulose would dramatically reduce carbon dioxide and smog emissions in comparison to gasoline, and have a positive impact on landfill waste,” he added.The newly discovered strain can be used to make fuel from any source of cellulose, not just paper. TU-103 was discovered in animal feces. N-Butanol”Most important about this discovery is TU-103’s ability to produce butanol directly from cellulose,” said Mullin.

via Newspapers to Fuel Cars : Discovery News.

This probably would have excited me a lot a few years ago, but I’m getting kind of sick of seeing all of these major breakthroughs in the news, but then never on the market. Oh well, it’s a nearly free fuel source that doesn’t involve genetically modified organisms…surely it’s more exciting than most of the others. I’m sure the science-y types will enjoy it anyway…

Wow That Was Fast! Libyan Rebels Have Already Established A New Central Bank Of Libya

The rebels in Libya are in the middle of a life or death civil war and Moammar Gadhafi is still in power and yet somehow the Libyan rebels have had enough time to establish a new Central Bank of Libya and form a new national oil company. Perhaps when this conflict is over those rebels can become time management consultants. They sure do get a lot done. What a skilled bunch of rebels – they can fight a war during the day and draw up a new central bank and a new national oil company at night without any outside help whatsoever. If only the rest of us were so versatile! But isn’t forming a central bank something that could be done after the civil war is over? According to Bloomberg, the Transitional National Council has “designated the Central Bank of Benghazi as a monetary authority competent in monetary policies in Libya and the appointment of a governor to the Central Bank of Libya, with a temporary headquarters in Benghazi.” Apparently someone felt that it was very important to get pesky matters such as control of the banks and control of the money supply out of the way even before a new government is formed.

Of course it is probably safe to assume that the new Central Bank of Libya will be 100% owned and 100% controlled by the newly liberated people of Libya, isn’t it?

via Wow That Was Fast! Libyan Rebels Have Already Established A New Central Bank Of Libya.

Why have a local tyrant when you can join the worldwide banking tyranny to oppress you instead?