Monday
A piece of wood is 74% sugars. Fact or Fiction? Fact!
Growing plants for biofuel takes up too much good crop land. Fact or Fiction? Fiction!
Ethanol ruins our car. Fact or Fiction? Fiction!
Due to their high sugar contents, corn and sugarcane have been the traditional sources of plant matter used to create biofuels. Using these plants for ethanol does compete with food needs and good crop land. However, if we can use other plant matter, such as wood, we remove these competing needs. Wood is high in sugar and trees such as the poplar remove the need for good crop land as it grows on marginal land and it does not have a conflicting use as food. There is less requirement of time and effort in growing poplars or switchgrass, which are high in sugars, as they are perennials and so grow over a period of years. They do not require replanting every year and only need care once or twice a year. The team at the BioEnergy Science Center at Oakridge Lab in Tennessee is working on breaking down these plants. They hope to be able to easily and cheaply use their sugar content to create ethanol.
We worked on isolating the genes in poplars that create the plant cell walls. If they can be modified, then the cell walls will be easier to break down to access the sugar content. It is very early on in the process, but when the gene can be isolated the plants can be cloned and grown. It is very exciting research as it starts to make the green option more viable and attainable. I think we were all quite shocked to see that this was a viable option. You get so used to hearing the reasons why we can't go green that when you see a possible solution it's absolutely fantastic.
Will ethanol ruin our cars? Cars are being made that can use ethanol, and if your car cannot, there is a cheap conversion that you can do. So, to say no to using ethanol is like saying a bad word.
Meeting with Dr. Martin Keller this morning gave us a great overview of the process of creating biofuels. He is very knowledgeable, but he did scare us a little describing the work we will do tomorrow with Alpaca poo and insects. I think secretly we are all excited about it. But, no poo fights please!
Tuesday
Can studying microorganisms in alpaca poo and the intestines of grubs really be the answer to creating biofuels? That is what today's activities were all about and what the Student Argonauts kept asking the scientists at the Oakridge National Lab. While no one solution is the perfect answer, they may each help us work towards creating enzymes that will help break down the cellulose. Creating a plant that can more-easily be broken down into cellulose will help open the door to production of bio-fuels.
We all had fun today and the Argonauts really had hands on fun. Even Dr. Keller got his hands dirty. It really gave the students a different way of thinking of science and scientists. When Steve said at the end of the day keep bioscience in mind for a career I think the students could really see it as a possibility. Imagine being able to be part of the solution to a major global warming problem, by creating a bio-fuel, all while doing something that is fun and satisfying. I can easily imagine myself in this line of work and it makes me want to say to all my kids at school, "Pay attention, study science, look at what you can achieve." As a teacher I think I really need to ensure students are well informed of the great careers in science that they could have.
We braved the cold to collect alpaca poo at Dr. Keller's farm. We searched through rotting wood to find grub specimens and we got used to the cold. Back at Oakridge National Lab we dissected the grubs to access the microorganisms in the guts and placed a liquid sample of the alpaca poo in a medium so the microorganisms can grow. It was the last place I would have ever thought of to look for information on creating a bio-fuel. What a wonderful option, to be able to use such things. I look forward to seeing the long term outcomes of this project.
Wednesday
The mission is going very well. The researchers are really giving us the big picture of what goes into the research they are doing to create an economical bio-fuel. Dr. Pabo had us grow a yeast culture to isolate a single microorganism and then dilute it. Through an experiment we could see the cells in a starch solution broken down in single sugar cells to make ethanol. The solution went from cloudy to see-through.
Adrianne showed us how to test to see if an object was being broken down through placing paper (cellulose) in a liquid substance containing the micro-organisms we gathered at the farm. We tested the solution to show if the paper was being broken down by an enzyme.
We met up with Steve from yesterday to check our enrichments of the grub guts to see if the samples we took could be viable for breaking down cellulose. Our microorganisms had grown. This was a good sign, as it showed us that they fed on the switchgrass that was in each test tube with the worm guts. We measured the pH level of the samples. They were acidic and could possibly give us the enzymes needed to help break down cellulose and give us the sugar needed to make ethanol. What if we found this in the alpaca poo?
We have been spending most of our time on bio-fuel as an alternate energy source and so we had a chat with Dr. Keller about the possible alternate energy sources. The wind became a prominent part of our conversation as it has been used for centuries as a technology to grind grain and pump water. So why not use this age-old technology to harness wind for energy. There are some problems such as climate and location, but it's free, it's green, so why not work on this energy source and work on improving it? Can it be used in combination with another energy source? We made models of wind turbines and I look forward to testing them.
Thursday
Thursday saw us on a tour through the two Oakridge supercomputers: truly amazing. Scientists work with experts to program the computers, completing extremely fast computations to predict outcomes and analyze scenarios. WOW! There was one room just to hold the water pipes for cooling the computers.
Q&A with Argo Melissa:
How did Dr. Keller, your host researcher, challenge the Argos?
Dr Keller gave us the final challenge – How were we going to use what we had learned? The students' answers were varied and imaginative. I think I will go back to Australia not only to inform students and teachers of the groundbreaking work being done in bio-fuels but also to empower them to take action. To inspire students and teachers to know they can make a difference through study, research, future careers, writing to politicians and educating others. The most important part of the message? It is their responsibility to do so.
