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COMMENTS: Grassoline
The microbe on the mind of Lee Cowan at NBC was of the genetically-engineered variety. Cowan visited the laboratory of Professor Lee Lynd, a microbiologist who is trying to replicate the action of termites on wood or the stomachs of cows on hay--breaking down cellulose into sugars than can be converted into ethanol. NBC's Our Planet feature was part of its corporate Green is Universal week. The fuel for the professor's microbes, Cowan showed us from a Tennessee farm, may be switchgrass: "It stores so much energy in its ten-foot stalks that it has earned the reputation as nature's solar battery." And switchgrass is "more environmentally friendly than corn" because it needs less water to grow and no fertilizer.
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