Apparently, microbes may be essential to ensuring food security. A new study outlines how microbes can be used to manufacture high-quality protein to not only supplement our own diets but also reduce the need to grow crops for animal feed. The proposed production facilities are more efficient and require less resources; they produce food for the microbes using captured carbon dioxide and solar energy, making them suitable for a variety of conditions, like deserts and high altitudes.
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Science
An Eerie Poisonous Fog
If you’re visiting a farm, keep an eye out for an ominous-looking bronze fog. Nitrogen tetroxide, a red-orange gas, is made by certain bacteria during fermentation when oxygen is lacking in the crop. The lack of oxygen causes the bacteria to use the nitrate within the crops, which then produces nitrogen tetroxide. Inhalation of the gas is known to cause permanent lung damage or kill people and livestock. To prevent this, farmers have started performing nitrate tests after four weeks of fermentation. Read full article here
Merv
November 30, 2022
