/ Modified may 1, 2010 2:25 a.m.

NOVA scienceNOW

Researchers are creating tailor-made algae cells to coax the fuel they want out of these little organisms. Explore usable bio-fuels Friday, August 21st at 10:00 pm on PBS-HD.

What if you could generate useable biofuels without any of the problems associated with, say, corn ethanol or “cellulosic” plant-based processes? What if you found a fuel source that didn’t use arable land or fresh water, didn’t rely on foodstuffs, cost very little and could be “tuned” to produce hydrogen or the exact fuel carbon chain you need? Visit a Texas algae farm, where researchers are creating tailor-made algae cells.

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Pictured: OriginOil’s helix bioreactors.

Also, joins scientists on an unprecedented journey to Gakkel Ridge, one of Earth’s “final frontiers,” stretching more than a thousand miles and buried deep beneath the Arctic Ocean. Scientists endure dangerous, icy conditions to reveal an eerie undersea landscape of volcanoes, hydrothermal plumes and exotic creatures.

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