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"...science fiction is sort of like a sociological genome. It's a huge range of possible futures, most of them useless; some vital. You never really know in advance."
- Peter Watts
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| Culture Tank | ||
| Germs that eat garbage and produce oil. |
In the novel, the main character, Bob Kinnaird, lives on an island that supplies it's own oil through a series of "culture tanks" that create fuel oil from waste.
| "They call 'em culture tanks. They have bugs -- germs -- growing in them; germs that eat pretty near anything, and produce oil as a waste product. That's the purpose of the whole business. We dump everything that's waste into the tanks, pump the oil off the top, and every so often clean the sludge out of the bottom -- that's a nasty job." |
| Technovelgy from Needle,
by Hal Clement. Published by Not known in 1950 Additional resources -
|
Bio-diesel and other fuels from organic waste have been around for a long time but almost 60 years ago, Clement had an island relying on it and creating a surplus for sale. The original impetus to research occurred in 1942, when two chemists (Harder and Von Witsch) were the first to propose that microalgae be grown as a source of lipids for food or fuel.
Thanks to Mike for writing in with the reference and the quote for this one.
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| Machete-Wielding Philodendron Isn't Going To Take It Anymore |
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"The robot solemnly hit a ball against the wall, picked it up and teed it, hit it again, over and again...'
'There was a wall ahead... It was riddled with holes that were the mouths of tunnels.'
'...support the interior human structure against Jupiter’s pull.'
'Anything larger than a BB shot it picked up and placed in a tray...'
'The German chemists have discovered how to supply the needed elements in compact, undiluted form...'
'Compounds devised by the biochemists for the rapid building of bone...'
'The car faltered as the external command came to brake...'
'It is about the size and shape of a kitchen stool, gyro-stabilized...'
