New microbe discovered eating oil spill in Gulf

[haikuman]

New Microbe

[Doc]

Maybe.

For some reason I'm not hopeful that this discovery will be verified independently.

...funded by a $500 million, 10-year grant from BP.

[haikuman]

I saw that also Doc but there are several Universities involved....

""The research was supported by an existing grant with the Energy Biosciences Institute, a partnership led by the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Illinois that is funded by a $500 million, 10-year grant from BP. Other support came from the U.S. Department of Energy and the University of Oklahoma Research Foundation.
Sciencexpress is the online edition of the journal Science."""

It is easy to be cynical *(:>* sometimes

[OWC Jamie]

research was supported by an existing grant with the Energy Biosciences Institute, a partnership led by the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Illinois that is funded by a $500 million, 10-year grant from BP. Other support came from the U.S. Department of Energy and the University of Oklahoma Research Foundation.

Surley not any oversight there.

[haikuman]

"""The Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI), formally announced on February 1, 2007, is an organization that will pursue research "to develop new sources of energy and reduce the impact of energy consumption on the environment."[1] Funded primarily by BP, which has signed a contract to contribute 500 million dollars over ten years, the Institute is a joint initiative between the University of California, Berkeley (UCB), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Eighty percent of the award is slated for research at the Berkeley site, where a new 'Helios' building (scheduled to open in 2010)[2] is proposed to be built for the Institute, though citizens, students and staff have expressed strong opposition to the building (which would house 50 BP scientists), and plans have been delayed.[3] Governor Schwarzenegger pushed the California state government to subsidize the building with $50 million. The remaining 100 million dollars is to be spent in Champaign, primarily on investigating energy crops for biofuels feedstocks. It is one of the largest joint initiatives between a private corporation and a public university in history."""

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_Biosciences_Institute

Criticism

The EBI has come under intense scrutiny, partly from the StopBP-Berkeley campaign, along several lines: concern about biofuels, concern about the influence of large private corporations on public universities, and concern about the influence and motives of oil companies in particular on public research.[4]

[edit]Corporate Influence
The EBI comes on the heels of another controversial agreement involving a $25 million grant by then Novartis to the Berkeley College of Natural Resources.

[edit]Biofuels
Critics have pointed to the negative impacts on food prices, livelihoods, and the environment of first-generation biofuels.

[edit]Academic Governance
Concerns about improper process led to a special hearing of the UC Berkeley academic senate.

[edit]Environment
Relations of the EBI with nanotechnology are not yet clear. Part of the justification of locating the Helios building next to the Molecular Foundry was to take advantage of synergies.

The impacts of possible new technologies produced by the EBI were excluded from consideration in the environmental impact report. The EBI hopes to genetically engineer bacteria that will be able to breakdown lignin, which is the basic structure of the cell wall that supports woody plant structures. The EBI also has as a central plank of their research program the objective of using bioengineering to increase the recovery of fossil fuels from existing mines and wells.


http://www.energybiosciencesinstitute.org/

Who really knows ...? Surely BP is culpable with regard to the Oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the Subcontractors.... What they started in 2007 may not be all darkness... or smoke and mirrors.

I do not pretend to know, I am hopeful and optimistic by nature..... no excuses *(:>*

Rudie *(:>*

Edit: *(:>*

I am waiting for Newton to say it sounds a little fishy to him *(:>*

[GuyGene]

Not to be picky, but the microbe is not new - discovery is what's new. Anyway, nature seems to have a way of helping itself out in these situations. Hmm... I wonder if oil is being created way down deep in the earth? Not just a finite amount that was left there by whatever process... Maybe the earth has been making crude oil since its creation. Anyway, since I live not far from the gulf, I will take all the help we can get down here.

[Trouble]

GuyGene wrote:
Not to be picky, but the microbe is not new - discovery is what's new. Anyway, nature seems to have a way of helping itself out in these situations. Hmm... I wonder if oil is being created way down deep in the earth? Not just a finite amount that was left there by whatever process... Maybe the earth has been making crude oil since its creation. Anyway, since I live not far from the gulf, I will take all the help we can get down here.

Read about Thomas Gold http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Gold

[Mac1337]

haikuman wrote:
New Microbe

Certain radio personality mentioned it months ago to the ridicule of many. PM me to tell you who.

[Doc]

GuyGene wrote: Maybe the earth has been making crude oil since its creation.

Nope.

Crude oil comes from once-living things. Mostly from algae that collected on ancient seabeds no more than 360 million years ago.

It's doubtful that any significant amount of oil predates 500 million years. Even 400 million is probably a stretch.

[$tevie]

Every time I see this mentioned, I get a mental image of PacMan for some reason.