Scientist Discovers Fungus That Could Fuel A Car

NPR
by Alex Chadwick
Day to Day, November 4, 2008

A researcher at Montana State University has found a micro-organism in a plant in South America that could fuel vehicles one day. The unusual fungus contains the essence of diesel, which one could use to run a bus, for example, without processing it at all.
Professor Gary Strobel discusses his findings on "myco-diesel," which are being published Wednesday in The Journal of Microbiology in London.
Dr. Strobel made the discovery by chance, while collecting fungus from the stem of a treein an old forest in southern Chile. When he finally got around to sending it off for sophisticated analysis — years later — he discovered that this version of Gliocladium wasn't like others he'd encountered before.
"I've scoured the earth for not only organisms like Gliocladium, but many other endophytes [a plant that lives in the tissue of another plant]. I've been to almost every rainforest on the planet," he tells Alex Chadwick. But, "in over 50 years, I've never seen anything like that."
Why would a fungus create diesel? Essentially to protect from plant invaders, he says.
He also discusses a brief scandal in his past that involved chainsawing trees and trashing an EPA document.

(perhaps this is the bridge for the gap between now and the time when we have 100% clean free energy. It would certainly beat the current oil system)

Category:

Education

Tags:

• sustainable
• future
• physical
• science
• social
• business
• humanities

[fj9fl61]

3 or so years later,where is it!?!

[7rancisco1]

@ozlotus1976 Penecillin is a fungus as well

[ozlotus1976]

The libs would like to control us all  Here a tree hugger that I like A thinker !

[barrenpaladin]

I love how he say's the EPA permits are 50 pages of garbage. love it man...... i wish the best on this stuff... let me know when he offers an IPO.

nothing like a fringe scientist...........

[maxd1g1talcreat0r]

I would like to have the strain so instead of growing shitake i can learn how to make petroleum.

[fbt2007]

I'm interested in following Dr. Gary Strobel's research.

Thanks for posting the video.

[swivelmaster]

This is Truly Amazing, to even think that this can change the future of fuel. Also answer questions about our past. IS this how fossil fuels were even made? WOW...I'll be following this closely.