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Cyborg bacteria turn sunlight into useful chemicals - Berkeley University

Objective/theme

Researchers have turned bacteria into efficient solar collectors to convert carbon dioxide into acetic acid, which serves as food for other bacteria producing useful fuels and chemicals.

Process & benefits

To help humans capture more of the sun’s energy than natural photosynthesis can, UC Berkeley scientists have taught bacteria to cover themselves in tiny, highly efficient solar panels to produce useful chemical compounds.

They fed the bacteria chemicals that made them construct their own solar collectors, which were able to capture about 80 percent of sunlight’s energy to make acetic acid.

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