Watermelon Juice May Be Next "Green" Fuel

Step aside, corn: Another summertime picnic favorite might be the next big thing in ethanol production, a new study suggests.

Picture: This picture shows a watermelon that can be used in the process to make this bio-fuel ethanol.

Summary: The article talk about how all left over watermelons can be used as a bio-fuel ethanol. About a fifth of all watermelons are rejected by people because of odd shapes scars that turn off the consumers. Farmers just leave this fruit on the vine, and a field of all these leftovers is about 80 to 100 tons an acre of just watermelon. A chemist and some of his colleagues from the Agricultural Research Service in Lane, Oklahoma were experimenting with extracting antioxidant compounds from watermelon juice, they realized the waste stream of sugary fluids could be a source of ethanol. They found out that from an acre of water melon juice they produced 23 gallons, now most average-sized farmers have about 300 to 1000 acres and they might as well keep it for them selves to use for production. Although farmers with larger farms could produce enough to sell. However it doesn't make sense to haul the watermelons to get processed at a facility, rather it be processes on mobile breweries that goes from farm to farm.

Opinion: I think that the idea of using the left over watermelons in a field and extracting the juices to make a bio-fuel ethanol is a pretty cool idea. If this could be another way to take gas out of the equation then i'm for it because the longer we use gas the less fossil fuels we have, and when we run out of fossil fuels it will take millions of years for them to be produced again. The sooner we can get started, I think the better.

Questions:

1. If this new bio-fuel ethanol came to the market would you use it in your vehicle? Why or why not?

2. What do you think of the idea of using left over watermelons for a substitute fuel?

3. Do you think people will convert from gas to this bio-fuel ethanol after growing up using gas their whole life? Why or why not?

How "Zombie" Virus Liquifies Caterpillar Hosts

Picture: Shows a dead Caterpillar hanging from a tree,

that had just died from baculovirus. Author: Brian Handwerk

Publication Date: 9/8/11

Summary: This article mainly talks about how a new virus called baculovirus: a new virus that is infecting and killing Caterpillars. Baculovirus is infecting the Caterpillars and brainwashing their brain, just like a zombie. It then somehow reprograms it to go hang from a tree and wait for its brain to turn into goo and die. After they die just hang from the tree just like in the picture. Then the virus drips on the ground waiting infect more moths or caterpillars. The virus is actually controlling the brain. Scientist have known previous brain washing viruses, but have never seen one like this. This infects the host, makes it go hang from a tree until it dies, and almost distributes itself on the ground waiting to infect something else. This is both scary and and amazing.

Opinion: I think this is a really cool story, but also very scary. I love how the virus almost thinks for itself and tells the caterpillar what it should do. This is a very fact too. We do not know if this virus can spread among species. Also what if the caterpillars in our experiment get affected. That would be really cool, because I wonder what the virus will make it do without the tree. I the humans get affected, then we will just have to prepare for the zombie apocalypse.

Question 1. Can this spread from species to species?

Question 2. Can humans get affected from this virus?

Question 3. Will this virus have the same effect on other species?

Wasted

© Caroline Grew

Wasted  http://www.emagazine.com/magazine/wasted?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+EMagazineIssueFeed+%28E+Magazine+Print+Issue+Feed%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Author Jonathan Bloom Digs through the Problem of Billions of Tons of Food Waste

Picture: This picture shows that Americans throw out enough food every day to fill the Rose Bowl stadium.

Summary: This article was about how the world wastes so much food. It is not only america. It is alot of the wealthier nations. Unfortanatlly 97% of wasted food goes into landfills. If we waste so much food we should at least use it for fertalizer. Grocery stores are one of the main reasons that this happens.  They throw out an unbelevable amount of food daily. This food gets thrown away because it is precooked and noone buys it or there is an expiration date. Five billion eggs also get thrown out because one egg is cracked, so they get rid of the whole dozen. A new store called In.gredients is opening in Texas and it is a "green" store. This is because you have to bring your own containers and and that makes you only buy what you need.

Opinion: I think that this is a problem that can be fixed. We could have a trash service that recycles our food and turns it into fertalizer. That would also eliminate all the chemicals we are using for fertalizer. I think that these grocery stores are a great idea because the force customes to only buy what they need. if you try to buy more then you need then you run out of containers.

Questions:

1. Do you think that your family wastes alot of food? If so how can you change that?

2. Do you think that whoever does the shopping in your house buys more than needed?

3. If there was a In.gredients grocery store near us would you shop there?

Dirty Diapers? Knowaste Will Turn Them Into Roofing Material

Author: Kimberley Mok

Publication Date: 9.13.11

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/09/knowaste-turns-dirty-diapers-to-roofing-material.php

Picture: The actual pellets used in roofing created by recycled Baby diapers and adult feces.

Summary: Recycling is a huge thing now a days here's just another way the world is doing there part to help used and dirty diapers can now be transformed into a roofing material thanks to the research and production of the Canadian company Knowaste. Knowaste has branches in the UK and in the US and is hoping to expand over the next four years. Knowaste is using waste from nursing homes, childcare centers, and hospitals through special bins that are then ship to processing centers were they are then cleaned, milled into a sludge like substance that is then dried into these plastic pellets. In the article that I read it said that these pellets are very strong and durable. The company is currently trying to find a way to broaden its services to domestics consumers but so far there off to a great start.

Opinion/Reflection: I personally thought that this was interesting how something that we view as trash can be recycled and sold for a profit. Ive heard about some other scenarios were total trash has been recycled into useful things but then you don't hear about them months later, but in reading the article it looks like they are already on the market.

Questions:

1. If you were a roofer would you buy this product?

2.Do you think there will be any controversy over using human waste?

3.Do you agree with the idea of using human waste to create this product?

Posted by: Jeff Panara