Introduction
Renewable energy, the darling of environmentalists, the staple of grade
school presentation projects, is ever increasingly becoming a reality.
For decades, scientists have prophecized a time when people could help
the environment just as unwittingly as they hurt it in the first place,
and recent discoveries in the multi-disciplinary field of biotechnology
are beginning to make this possible. This site is an overview of the biggest
discoveries made in microbial fuel cell research. For the purposes of brevity,
I've decided to make a distinction between microbial fuel cells, which
run by having bacteria respirate, and enzymatic fuel cells, which use enzymes
to catalyze the reactions. This site only discusses the former.
If you don't have a lot of experience with biology, the best place to
begin is with the Basics. Each section of this site after that talks about
a prominent science laboratory that is currently conducting ground-breaking
research in the field and their unique contributions to science. Discoveries
on microbial fuel cells are by no means limited to these laboratories,
but these are the scientists who have had not only a significant amount
of media attention, but have had papers published in prestigious journals
on research of this field.
Basics
This section provides background information on microbiology,
cell biology, and fuel cell technology, |
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Quizzes
& Activites
Take a break with some multimedia activities
that will test what you've learned on this site. |
The Seafloor Battery
A team of researchers construct an
underwater battery that runs on the bacteria that live in the sea. |
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The Geobacter Lab
The microbiological arm of the seafloor
project has some interesting projects of their own. |
The Wastewater Lab
Think more energy means more waste?
Scientists have a battery that runs on wastewater. |
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The Hydrogen Lab
An astounding discovery brings the much-dreamed-of
hydrogen economy just a little closer. |
The E.coli Lab
Scientists say that power can now also
be extracted from the microbes that live on your tongue. |
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About the Project
Includes such necessary information such as my name, my grade,
and a detailed list of where I stole all my images from. |
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