5. Gribbles
There’s a special organism out there that has attracted understandable attention – because it has what we call a sterile gut. Now, every human baby is born with one – but we lose it in the first days of life as the bacteria move in. That’s the typical path for almost all organisms. But not the gribble. It’s a microscopic worm that causes wood rot, at sea, for piers, jetties and rowboats. A pest that knows how to munch fabulous amounts of wood as a food source, and down-convert them to the sugars used to power life. Sugars that can be fermented into alcohols, or hydrocarbon fuels suitable for internal combustion engines.
Use your ← → (arrow) keys to browse
