As reported in the New York Times, a New Zealand company, Lanza Tech, has developed a fermentation process to convert CO to EtOH via bacteria. The intriguing piece? CO is a large waste product from steel manufacturers and other industries. Per ton of steel, a half ton of CO is generated. There is a potential for 50 billion gallons of ethanol production using this methodology. Emphasis on potential.
The funding for Lanza Tech is coming from Vinod Kholsa, co-found of Sun Microsystems. A conversation with Mr. Kholsa can be read here. …

Oocyte cryopreservation. This is the fancy term for egg freezing. An oocyte is an immature ovum.
In the April 20th issue of Science, the increased usage of oocyte cryopreservation is discussed. Frozen oocytes is the future. Why? Unlike frozen embryos, there isn’t the ethical dilemna. It’s an unfertilized egg, no one considers that life yet. Frozen embryos have successfully been thawed and implanted via IVF. There have been about 300,000 frozen embryo births. However, frozen egg births are only account for about 300.
Back to the freeze. So why can’t we …

Last week’s inaugural event was a tremendous success. About 35 people learned about the Hayward fault, it’s destructive capability and the techniques being used to find out more.
For those of you who missed out: videos, pics, and Jack’s presentation have been posted on the Past Cafes page. You can download the video or watch it online.
See you in a few weeks!