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I'd like to point out that every green plant you see outside your window is getting its energy from pure electro-magnetic radiation! Which I honestly think is a

by ghkbrew 12y ago

I'd like to point out that every green plant you see outside your window is getting its energy from pure electro-magnetic radiation! Which I honestly think is a cooler accomplishment. And I would argue that light is just as pure a form of energy as an electric gradient if not more so. Yes, the fact that a there are bacteria out there doing this is really cool. However, the ridiculous hype science and tech reporter feel the need to put in their articles is just annoying.

sillysaurus3 12y ago
The hype is inspirational to children, though. An article like this could convince a kid to become a scientist.
- anoncow 12y ago
  But using unwarranted hype to lure kids into anything doesn't feel right.
byerley 12y ago
To me, this seems interesting because of its potential impact on us rather than an impressive feat of evolution. We'll call this science fiction, but - imagine doing your wiring on the fly with self-organizing bacteria, or having to worry about bacteria evolved to leach off your circuit board. Since we think of metal and electricity as very lifeless, the author is right to point out that this seems alien, even if it's an obvious and less-evolved form of life.
- ivanca 12y ago
  What if this "less-evolved" system is actually a step forward in our evolution as species? Because we use a lot of electricity for the machines required to create, maintain (and promote) our food, what if we could just skip that and directly plug the energy into ourselves?
  - logicchains 12y ago
    It can be measured; here's a page listing the energy efficiency of various foods: http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6252 http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6252. It appears it would depend on what we were giving up; if we replace meat with direct energy, we could save around 95%, for instance, but if we replaced grain with electricity we'd save much less, as grain is already fairly efficient.
    - Retric 12y ago
      That link ignores sunlight. Average Corn yield is ~160 bushels per acer. 60lb per bushel. An acre is 4,046 square meters. A square meter gets 1kw in full sunlight. Call it 8 hours a day of sunlight. Corn takes 63 to 92 days so you can get 2 yeilds per year in some area. Call it 72 for sweet temptation. 72 * 8 * 4,048 / 160 / 60 = ~242 kwh worth of sunlight per pound of corn. Note: Solar cells are ~22% efficient but they also work all year.
dghughes 12y ago
Yes but bacteria and plants are different.
- ghkbrew 12y ago
  There are plenty bacteria [0] that perform photosynthesis too [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanobacteria http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanobacteria

by ghkbrew 12y ago

sillysaurus3 12y ago

The hype is inspirational to children, though. An article like this could convince a kid to become a scientist.

anoncow 12y ago
But using unwarranted hype to lure kids into anything doesn't feel right.

byerley 12y ago

To me, this seems interesting because of its potential impact on us rather than an impressive feat of evolution. We'll call this science fiction, but - imagine doing your wiring on the fly with self-organizing bacteria, or having to worry about bacteria evolved to leach off your circuit board. Since we think of metal and electricity as very lifeless, the author is right to point out that this seems alien, even if it's an obvious and less-evolved form of life.

ivanca 12y ago
What if this "less-evolved" system is actually a step forward in our evolution as species? Because we use a lot of electricity for the machines required to create, maintain (and promote) our food, what if we could just skip that and directly plug the energy into ourselves?
- logicchains 12y ago
  It can be measured; here's a page listing the energy efficiency of various foods: http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6252 http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6252. It appears it would depend on what we were giving up; if we replace meat with direct energy, we could save around 95%, for instance, but if we replaced grain with electricity we'd save much less, as grain is already fairly efficient.
  - Retric 12y ago
    That link ignores sunlight. Average Corn yield is ~160 bushels per acer. 60lb per bushel. An acre is 4,046 square meters. A square meter gets 1kw in full sunlight. Call it 8 hours a day of sunlight. Corn takes 63 to 92 days so you can get 2 yeilds per year in some area. Call it 72 for sweet temptation. 72 * 8 * 4,048 / 160 / 60 = ~242 kwh worth of sunlight per pound of corn. Note: Solar cells are ~22% efficient but they also work all year.

dghughes 12y ago

Yes but bacteria and plants are different.

ghkbrew 12y ago
There are plenty bacteria [0] that perform photosynthesis too [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanobacteria http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanobacteria