Rainforest Fungus Synthesizes Diesel
Fluffeh alerts us to a report of a fungus that naturally produces diesel fuel, or something very close to it. “A fungus that lives inside trees in the Patagonian rain forest naturally makes a mix of hydrocarbons that bears a striking resemblance to diesel, biologists announced today. And the fungus can grow on cellulose, a major component of tree trunks, blades of grass and stalks that is the most abundant carbon-based plant material on Earth… [T]the paper’s authors admit that the technique is far from any sort of industrial production. ‘This report presents no information on the cost-effectiveness or other details to make G. roseum an alternative fuel source,’ they write.” NPR has an interview with the fungus’s discoverer.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/NEfR4IKYS1s/article.pl