Wired Earth

Filed in archive Edge Technology on August 22, 2006

The Earth has been wired long before the age of the internet. The man who discovered and initiated research on microbial fuel cells is Yuri Gorby, a scientist from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory of the US Department of Energy. He discovered that a microbe produces tiny electrically conducive wires from its cell membrane. With this discovery, scientists have unearthed the ability of bacterial species to create electricity (i.e. microbial fuel cells). Today, the study of electrical ability across other species of bacteria are being studied, and it looks like more and more species are being found to be applicable for microbial fuel cell use, including those that are involved in fermentation and photosynthesis.

Studies into the physiological characteristics of these species showed that the common thread involved depriving microbes of something it needed to shed excess energy in the form of electrons. By depriving these microbes of something they need, they form nanowires that reach out and connect cells from one to another form thus constituting an electrically integrated community. According to Gorby:

"The physiological and ecological implications for these interactions are not currently known, but the effect is suggestive of a highly organized form of energy distribution among members of the oldest and most sustainable life forms on the planet."

And that is what man will tap as a renewable and sustainable energy resource in a few years. The potential of microbial fuel cells are truly spectacular, don't you think? Read the full article here.