BioSolar

[Clara Listensprechen]

On today's Quirks & Quarks program via the CBC, one of the guest scientists was a man who got a Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal for discovering relief, using porphyrins, for a certain class of eye diseases, macular degeneration being one (Dr. David Dolphin).  The fact that this discovery is related to how light is processed, hemoglobin compared to chlorophyl, is the fact that makes this pertinent to also processing light into energy.

Sandia Labs on porphyrins

It takes beaucoup kilowattage to melt silicon then grow it into a crystal required for manufacturing run-of-mill solarvoltaic cells, and it's already been announced that a bioversion of this, using the chlorophyl of spinach, as an alternative solarvoltaic method, is being researched.

Along comes this prize-winning scientist to apply bioprocessing of light to macular degeneration--and measured light exposure is part of the treatment--to connect more dots to the research into biophoto energies.

According to his research, the difference between a plant's oxygen processing and that of an animal's is the difference between chlorophyl and hemoglobin; they are both cells of like shape and processing of oxygen is the main job of both.  In chlorophyl, CO2 is the objective; in hemoglobin, O2 is the objective.  And both affect the performance of light processing whether it be in the leaf or the eye.

To effect their designated processes, chlorophyl relies on magnesium; hemoglobin, on iron.  These happen to be two metals also usable for hydrogen manufacture; the magnesium-bearing chlorophyl additionally being applied to biophotovoltaics.

Now that research has turned in this direction, further developments from the scientific community are well worth following intently.

Q & Q program in mp3 and slide the selector to the last quarter of the program.



Dr. David Dolphin

[_GonZo_]

Very interesting, it will be able to convert water in Hidrogen and oxigen from sun light directly.

[hiofarwa]

Great new ways! Now that oil is getting expensive all over the world people are getting creative again, just like in the timespan between 1850 and 1920 ( the time of the great electro engineers), resulting in a stampede of new and old research that may get us somewhere. It is about time I should say! People are a lazy lifeform... and destructive aswell. Hail Nicola Tesla!