Ask Me Everything4

believe it

The microscopic algae that live in the oceans are so smali that 1,000 individuals could fit on a pinhead. But hot, calm weather can lead to huge “blooms” of algae. Big enough to be seen from space, these tum the sea pale turguoise.

Next, tum your algae oil into biodiesel—a renewable “green” fuel.

biofuel in a petri dish

Power your ride with pond scum

^ ^ In the next few years, w A scientists hope to use oily algae to develop new biofuels, nicknamed “oilgae.”

/\0 Don’t be surprised— w u some oil and gas fields are partially the fossilized remains of algae.

Growing 2.2 lb (1 kg) vOof algae takes in 4.8 lb (2.2 kg) of carbon dioxide, so the process will combat global warming at the same time.

M Algae can produce morę oil in an area the size of a two-car garage than an entire soccer field of soy beans.

Four reasons to love algae

01: Algae are at the

bottom of food chains or food webs in rivers, lakes, and seas.

02: Algae suck in carbon dioxide—the gas that is created by traffic and other forms of human pollution.

03: Three billion years ago, ancestors of algae called cyanobacteria started using sunlight to make food and release oxygen.

04: Breathe in and thank the algae that produce morę than 50 percent of our planet’s oxygen.

WEIRD OR WHAT?

Designer algae

American scientists hope that pond scum will provide a cure for Parkinson’s, a disease that badly affects speech and movement. They will inject the algae into the diseased brain and then fit a light into the skuli.

It sounds crazy, but it has already worked in mice!

Diatom

Seen under a microscope, diatoms look morę like art than living organisms. They make beautiful fossils.

Dulse

This red alga is as rubbery and springy as a rubber band. It’s also delicious fried and served with butter.

Giant kelp

This seaweed forms underwater “forests” in shallow seas. Gas-filled floats keep it upright.

Snów algae

Nicknamed “watermelon snów,” this algae forms pink or red blooms on the surface of arctic ice.

Algae 102|103 _:_