Friday 7 November 2008

MyCo Diesel



No not an interview with Renzo Rosso founder of the clothing brand of the same name but some astounding news.

Professor Gary Strobel has been studying rotten tree stumps in the patagonian rainforests and has found a fungi that turns rotting wood into diesel fuel.

"We were trying to discover totally novel fungi in this tree by exposing its tissues to the volatile antibiotics of the fungus Muscodor albus. Quite unexpectedly, G. roseum grew in the presence of these gases when almost all other fungi were killed. It was also making volatile antibiotics. Then when we examined the gas composition of G. roseum, we were totally surprised to learn that it was making a plethora of hydrocarbons and hydrocarbon derivatives. The results were totally unexpected and very exciting and almost every hair on my arms stood on end!"

How cool is that?!! What a Fun-guy. Sorry
SBW

2 comments:

bushman said...

Always knew them big oil companies were really just fungi...

Anonymous said...

How saprophytic!

But seriously, tree fungi have many great properties from medical to fire making. I wrote an article on Chaga you guys might be interested in - this tree fungi is chock full of anti-oxidants and goodies that make it a great medicine.

http://www.survivaltopics.com/survival/the-chaga-natures-medicinal-mushroom/