Bioengineered bacteria to produce oil alternative

This is a very interesting article I found on Yahoo today:

"A humble soil bacteria has become a genetically engineered factory capable of making fuel for cars. But the project still has to get out of the lab and scale up to industrial-size production.

The MIT project aims to make transportation fuels 10 times more efficiently than existing biofuels derived from living organisms. Researchers swapped out the genes of the R. eutropha bacterium so that it can create isobutanol — an alcohol that can replace or blend with gasoline used by vehicles.

"We've shown that, in continuous culture, we can get substantial amounts of isobutanol," said Christopher Brigham, a biologist atMIT.

Many similar projects use microbes that make the biofuels within their bodies, so that researchers must kill the microbes to get the fuel out. But the MIT effort has succeeded in making the bacteria spit gasoline out into the surrounding liquid medium for easy harvesting.

The natural bacteria usually stores carbon by creating carbon polymers similar to petroleum-based plastics. Brigham and his colleagues — Jingnan Lu, Claudia Gai and Anthony Sinskey — managed to remove several genes while adding another organism's gene so that the bacteria made isobutanol rather than the carbon polymer.

For their next trick, the MIT researchers hope the genetically engineered bacteria could eventually transform carbon dioxide into fuel — a way of using up the greenhouse gas that contributes heavily to global warming. The bacteria already naturally use hydrogen and carbon dioxide for growing.

Additional modifications could allow the bacteria to use carbon from sources such as agricultural field waste or city waste. The research received about $1.8 million from ARPA-E, the U.S. Department of Energy's research arm for high-risk, high-reward projects, from July 2010 until July 2013.

The MIT research is detailed in the August issue of the journal Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bioengineered-bacteria-pump-fuel-cars-152840053.html

Daily Life Engineering

How many are our most sincere interests? In a time where Sustainability became a popular theme among our scientists, societies and companies, who is really working for it because of a real belief in it, and its very likely consequences?

Nowadays, sustainability is a hot-topic, and that we won't argue. Many companies, even food and drink packaging, claim to be natural, or to be doing everything to reduce, reuse, or "re-affirm their places in the market." Seriously, go to Mc Donald's take a paper bag, or even a drink, and Mc Donald's will there be claiming action. I'm a firm believer that every little action, independently of the reasons behind it, that motivate it, is good, if it does indeed contribute to a major positive goal.

I've already taken plenty of sustainability, environmental courses, read many articles in the area, done projects related to it and so on. But, this summer of 2012, I've decided to give sustainability more practice. I started biking to Bunker Hill Community College, my school, for my chemistry classes, in a way to save gas (which not only costs a lot - but pollutes our environment), care for my health (stay fit and release the stress that driving into a big city causes), and save time!

I started biking about 2-3 times a week, biking a distance of 6 miles each way, a total of 12 miles a day. The best part of it, was that I took about the same time I would take in the car, maybe a little bit more, but instead of having to spend time at a gym, I would get my work out done at that time, and later I was free to do anything else I needed.

For this adventure I took my "mountain bike." It is just a regular, simple bike. However, for many times I was biking, I noticed that people in their road bikes and so, would pass me with an agility that I could not describe.

Despite the slight embarrassment - that almost, first-time at the gym after a long time away feeling - I noticed that it wasn't really my potential that was causing that. I really worked hard to keep going, but something else was being responsible for these other bikes agility!

ENGINEERING THOUGHT MODE ON: If the users had little difference in the difference of agility of both bikers - a mountain biker and a road biker - what was the difference then, but the bikes?
Before I reached to google or some other source, I started thinking, wondering what were the reasons behind it all.

The first thing I thought, came from noticing the difference on the tires of both types of bikes. Mountain Bikes have a larger tire than road bikes. Friction, one of the most basic principles in physics, should certainly be playing a role.

On another day, as I moved my body slightly forward, I noticed that with my legs a little bit forward than usual, the impulse my body was giving to the bike came from my thighs, a stronger muscle, than my shins, and I could go slightly faster than normally - or so I felt. Then I realized that there was a difference in the shape between road/mountain bikes. In a way, road bikes favor the bikers body to be in a more forward position, giving that considerable impulse, and the easiness to keep going on, faster.

By that point, it was already the end of my 2-month, summer semester, and I already could not sleep without finally researching and finding the reasons behind it.

Yes, I was right, the difference of tires and shapes do play a role. Moreover, the shape in the frames, for the road bike also helps with the aerodynamics of it. It does causes some back pain in its new riders, however.

Moreover, something that I could not take from looking, was that the difference in weight also plays a role. Road bikes are just so much lighter than mountain bikes! Obviously, reducing its normal force, and the friction it has with the pavement, associated to the aerodynamics of the frame, you'll find that, well, bikers on road bikes are that much faster.

In the end, my little sustainability project ended up giving me some gains, the gas savings, the boost it gave to my health, the way I could partake in helping the environment on my daily life, and most of all, the boost it gave to my brain in applying some daily-life engineering.

Hope you all keep-engineering & contributing more and more to our world.
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5 Biggest Worker Shortages... good news for us Engineers-to-be

Help-Most Wanted is the titled of this article written by Paul Bomberger for Yahoo! Finance.
So among, skilled trades, IT staffers, Sales Representatives & Accounting & Finance Staff, Engineers are needed!

Here is what Bomberger posted about Engineers:

"Engineers

Engineering has been a hot profession for many years, accenting the need for more students to pursue math, science and technology studies. Plus, employers needing engineers complain that they can't find candidates with industry-specific qualifications or certifications.

Certain industries, such as aerospace and electronics, have cut engineering jobs in recent years. However, jobs are growing in more traditional fields, such as civil engineering, and fledgling businesses are creating new avenues for engineers in the biomedical and environmental industries.

George Zobrist, professor emeritus of computer science at the Missouri University of Science and Technology, expects engineering consulting firms to expand their services in coming years, which will lead to new opportunities for engineers in several areas.

"The highest growth areas in engineering are projected to be: environmental, biomedical, industrial and civil engineering specialties," Zobrist says. He also expects electronics manufacturers to increase research and development spending, adding even more engineering opportunities.

If engineering sounds like the right career for you, you'll need a formal education. To land an entry-level position, you typically need a bachelor's degree in engineering, and some jobs require specialized training. To qualify for a management job, you'll likely need a master's degree."

Apparently this is good news for Engineers and Engineers-to-be. 

To read more see : Help-Most-Wanted

Good luck to you all, and hopefully I'll soon be back,

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