Test Tube Meat... really?

[Christ]

That reminds me... I looked up bio-luminescence as a way to light homes... it didn't pan out, though. Turns out that most things that are bio-luminescent will "wear out" in a short time, and stop producing light after a short time.

Of course, bio-engineering is pretty far outside my realm of capability, so I can't create a super efficient bio-lume source that only requires a few calories of energy to maintain a lighted condition over an extended period of time.

I have to imagine it would be cheaper to feed some algae a little bit of whatever it is they eat (which could be cultured in your fridge, incidentally) than to run a bunch of light bulbs in your house.

[alohaspirit]

Originally Posted by NiHaoMike

I have made an analogy about the situation that involves fuel efficient cars. I think of Hannah Tucker as like the EV1. (Everything was going well with her until she just decided to end it for no good reason.) And I think of Allie Moore as like the PHEV Prius. (Looks like something good is going to happen but I have to wait...) But that's going off topic...

thats a YKYAEM if i ever saw one

Originally Posted by NiHaoMike

Maybe there's an application for that besides food? What about clone electric eel cells to make biological fuel cell batteries? Just imagine an EV with them... Fueled by American fat...

cars running on american fat is perhaps the first step to warp travel

or at the very least, replicator/transporter technology

[NiHaoMike]

That's the big problem with OLEDs. It's hard to make an organic light emitter that lasts long. (IIRC, the OLED backlight on a text LCD I bought for cheap faded to useless levels in just a year or two...)

[dcb]

Originally Posted by Christ

...so I can't create a super efficient bio-lume source that only requires a few calories

quite a number of species can do bio-luminescence, it is an interesting bit of convergent evolution, but it is still seems somewhat energy intensive as most species only do it occasionally. So I don't know how realistic the "few calories" part will be.

[Christ]

Originally Posted by dcb

quite a number of species can do bio-luminescence, it is an interesting bit of convergent evolution, but it is still seems somewhat energy intensive as most species only do it occasionally. So I don't know how realistic the "few calories" part will be.

I don't have the notebook any more, as it was several years ago, but it was unlikely enough that I didn't even bother continuing the project. It takes an excessive amount of bacteria and the like to create a single calorie, let alone the several (thousand??) it takes to light an entire 10x10 room for only a usec.

Several of the species of algae that bio-luminesce will do it "on demand" when agitated. However, they will burn so much of their caloric intake creating light that they won't have enough energy to continue living in some cases. It's not a good light source without bio-engineering. It's a fairly interesting project, though, and it's always cool to have a flask of algae sparkling on your headboard.

[Frank Lee]

Google Image Result for http://foreignerinformosa.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/green_fluorescent_pig_2.jpg

[Christ]

Fluorescence is a little different than bio-luminescence... I think you know that, but others might not.

[Frank Lee]

The question is, when will I be able to buy a glow in the dark hot dog?

[Christ]

Wasn't there a self-contained microwave meal patent issued in the 60's? Or early 70's...

[Frank Lee]

Oh you're asking the wrong guy