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MORE EFFICIENT PHOTOSYNTHESIS. "C3 pathway requires 18 ATP for the synthesis of one molecule of glucose while the C4 pathway requires 30 ATP. C4 is an evolutionary advancement over the simpler C3 cycle which operates in most plants. Corn, sugar cane, and sorghum are C4 plants. These plants are economically important in part because of their relatively high photosynthetic efficiencies compared to many other crops."" " http://lnkd.in/dVYtXBh View in LinkedIn

CARS IN THE US. "The United States, with less than 5% of the world's population, is home to one-third of the world's automobiles. Over the next 20 years, the total number of miles driven by Americans is forecasted to grow by 40%." The rugged individualism of the car has given independence, but at a price. London's great experiment to restrict cars within the city has relieved congestion, and may be a model for other cities. " " http://lnkd.in/dk8RczQ View in LinkedIn

CALL TO PULL FOSSIL FUEL FUNDS. "Investors must think seriously about selling their shares in fossil fuel backed funds and putting their money in green assets, the UN's climate chief says."" " http://lnkd.in/dK4kYbM View in LinkedIn

JUNK FOOD OBESITY UNDERESTIMATED. "Estimates that half the UK population will be obese by 2050 "underestimate" the problem, a report has claimed. Tam Fry, also from the National Obesity Forum, told the BBC that foods needed to be "reformulated" as they were packed with sugar, fat and salt. "The problem with industry is that they're very happy to go on doing this unless they are actually whipped into shape."" " http://lnkd.in/dJUudsC View in LinkedIn

BACTERIA ARE MAJOR SOLAR POWER GENERATORS. "Cyanobacteria (account) for 20–30% of Earth's photosynthetic productivity and convert solar energy into biomass-stored chemical energy at the rate of ~450 TW. 25 Gigatons of carbon are sequestered annually from cyanobacteria alone; more than the 8.67 gigatons of carbon released from fossil fuels worldwide in 2008... The total photosynthetic productivity of earth is between ~1500–2250 TW, or 47,300–71,000 exajoules per year."" " http://lnkd.in/dVYtXBh View in LinkedIn

LIVING BREATHING DATABASES. "Welcome to the crowd in the cloud. It's like tapping into the collective consciousness of Star Trek's Borg cybernetic aliens." NASA successfully used this crowdsourcing method to successfully design a component. There are now a number of platforms available to solve problems this way. An emerging meta intelligence. " " http://lnkd.in/duhTj-i View in LinkedIn

ABUNDANT BLUEPRINT. "Chlorophyll is a nearly infinite raw material. It is the world’s most abundant pigment measured by biomass. Also, there is no need for excessive amounts of material: as only a few micrograms of chlorophyll is needed to produce a thin film with the surface area of a postage stamp." For 'abundancy' read 'evolutionary success' after a 3.5 billion year selection process. " " http://lnkd.in/dNdRM8a View in LinkedIn

GIANT CHINESE CLONING FACTORY. "The scale of ambition is staggering. BGI is not only the world's largest centre for cloning pigs - it's also the world's largest centre for gene sequencing... a comparison for scale: a UK project seeks to sequence 10,000 human genomes. BGI has ambitions to sequence the genomes of a million people, a million animals and a million plants. "A third category is if it looks cute: panda, polar bear, penguin, you should really sequence it - it's like digitalizing all the wonderful species."" " http://lnkd.in/dS9xzhP View in LinkedIn

EFFICIENCY OF PLANT LEAF ENERGY CAPTURE is only about 5% to 10%, but is about 95% for the actual photon energy conversion by the biochemistry of Photosystem II. " " http://lnkd.in/dVYtXBh http://lnkd.in/dUKTAeG View in LinkedIn

DOUBLE HIT: SUN POWER AND CO2 REDUCTION. "Photosynthesis provides the basis for life on earth by converting the energy contained in the photons of sunlight into chemical energy that is stored as reduced carbon. In addition, this process removes carbon dioxide and releases oxygen to the atmosphere." This single remarkable process, if humans can replicate or harness it, would solve two of our most pressing needs today: energy and climate change. " " http://lnkd.in/dMhFDep View in LinkedIn