Electricity from bacteria

With the critical eye of the world’s environmentalists focused sharply on the issue of fossil fuels and other environmentally unsustainable power sources, clean energy has been the topic of conversation on many platforms – from government to environmental groups. Alternative energy is now on the up and up, and we are able to keep the lights on by harnessing the power of the sun, the wind and water. But one South African learner has caused quite a buzz in the scientific community lately, by patenting a way to create energy from fresh water bacteria! Although invisible to the human eye, the mass of all microbes on the planet is twenty-five times more than the mass of all other animals combined making it a readily available commodity. If our own homegrown Bernard Smit succeeds in this groundbreaking project on a large enough scale, we could be looking at the new hero of sustainability! We couldn’t let an opportunity like this pass us by, so Samir gathered up his microscope and dashed off to get a chance to meet this inspiring young scientist in the flesh!