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Monthly Archives: July 2017
AI Project Produces New Styles of Art – Smithsonian
Posted: July 4, 2017 at 8:18 am
smithsonian.com July 3, 2017 3:30PM
Artificial intelligence is getting pretty good at besting humans in things like chess and Go and dominating at trivia. Now, AI is moving into the arts, aping van Goghs style and creating a truly trippy art form called Inceptionism. Anew AI project is continuing to push the envelope with an algorithm that only produces original styles of art, andChris Baraniuk at New Scientist reports that the product gets equal or higher ratings than human-generated artwork.
Researchers from Rutgers University, the College of Charleston and Facebooks AI Lab collaborated on the system, which is a type of generative adversarial network or GAN, which usestwo independent neural networks to critique each other. In this case, one of the systems is a generator network, which createspieces of art. The other network is the discriminator network, which is trained on 81,500 images from the WikiArt database, spanningcenturies of painting. The algorithm learned how to tell the difference between a piece of art versus a photograph or diagram, and it also learned how to identifydifferent styles of art, for instance impressionism versus pop art.
The MIT Technology Review reports that the first network created random images, then received analysis from the discriminator network. Over time,it learned to reproduce different art styles from history. But the researchers wanted to see if the system could do more than just mimic humans, so theyasked the generator to produce images that would be recognized as art, but did not fit any particular school of art. In other words, they asked it to do what human artists douse the past as a foundation, but interpret that to create its own style.
At the same time, researchersdidnt want the AIto just create something random. They worked to train the AI to find the sweet spot between low-arousal images (read: boring) and high-arousal images (read:too busy, ugly or jarring). You want to have something really creative and striking but at the same time not go too far and make something that isnt aesthetically pleasing, Rutgerscomputer science professor and project lead, Ahmed Elgammal, tells Baraniuk. The research appears on arXiv.
The team wanted to find out how convincing its AI artist was, so they displayed some of the AI artwork on the crowd-sourcing site Mechanical Turk along with historical Abstract Expressionism andimages from Art Basel's 2016 show in Basel, Switzerland, reports MIT Technology Review.
The researchers had usersrate the art, asking how much they liked it, how novel it was,and whether they believed it was made by a human or a machine. It turns out, the AI art rated higher in aesthetics thanthan the art from Basel, and found"more inspiring." The viewersalso had difficulty telling the difference between the computer-generated art and the Basel offerings, though they were able to differentiate between the historical Abstract Expressionism and the AI work. We leave open how to interpret the human subjects responses that ranked the CAN [Creative Adversarial Network] art better than the Art Basel samples in different aspects, the researcherswrite in the study.
As such networks improve, the definition of art and creativity will also change. MIT Technology Review asks, for instance,whether the project is simply an algorithm that has learned to exploit human emotions and not truly creative.
One thing is certain: itwill never cut off an ear for love.
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IBM’s AI Will Make Your Hospital Stay More Comfortable – Futurism
Posted: at 8:18 am
In Brief IBM's Watson, probably the most famous AI system in the world today, is making its way into hospitals to assist with menial tasks, thereby freeing up medical personnel. Watson has already made a big impact on the medical industry, as well as many others, and the AI shows no signs of slowing down. Dr. Watson, Coming Soon
IBMs Watsonhas done everything from beat human champions at the game of Go to diagnose undetected leukemia in a patient, saving her life. Now, the artificial intelligence (AI) system is poised to make life in a hospital a lot easier for patients and staff alike.
Right now, some medical staff spend almost 10 percent of their working hours answering basic patient questions about physician credentials, lunch, and visiting hours, Bret Greenstein, the vice president of Watsons Internet of Things (IoT) platform, tells CNET.
These staff members also have to tend to very basic needs that dont require medical expertise, such as changing the temperature in rooms or pulling the blinds. If assisted by some kind of AI-powered device, these workers could spend their time more effectively and focus on patient care.
Thats where Watson comes in. Philadelphias Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals have teamed up with IBM and audio company Harman to develop smart speakers for a hospital setting. Once activated by the voice command Watson, these speakers can respond to a dozen commands, including requests to adjust theblinds, thermostat, and lightsor to play calming sounds.
Watson is no stranger to thehealthcare industry. In addition to providing a correct diagnosis for the woman mentioned above, Watson was able to recommend treatment plans at least as well as human oncologists in 99 percent of the cases it analyzed, and it even provided options missed by doctors in 30 percent of those cases.
Watson will soon be working in many dermatologists offices, too, and while its integration into the medial field hasnt been free of problems, it is still the AI with the broadest access to patient data the key to better diagnoses and greater predictive power.
Watson has had a notable impact on various other industries, as well.
OnStar Gouses Watson, and it will be making driving simpler in more than 2 million 4G LTE-connected GM vehicles by the end of this year. Watson is also no stranger to retail, having been incorporated into operations at Macys, Lowes, Best Buy, and Nestle Cafesin Japan, and the AI is even helping to bring a real-life Robocop to the streets of Dubai.
Watson is branching out into creative work, too, which was previously assumed to be off-limits to AIs. The system successfullyedited an entire magazine on its own and has also created a movie trailer.
What the AI will do next is anyones guess, but its safe to say that Watson probably has a more exciting and ambitious five-year plan than most humans.
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IBM's AI Will Make Your Hospital Stay More Comfortable - Futurism
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IBM uses AI to serve up Wimbledon highlights – CNET
Posted: at 8:18 am
Will defending Wimbledon men's champion Andy Murray be able to repeat? IBM will be tracking all of his action.
Too busy to spend hours watchingWimbledon champ Andy Murraytry to win back-to-back titles against the likes of past winners Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic? IBM thinks it can help within a matter of minutes.
Using its ubiquitousWatson artificial intelligence platform, the tech giant's research andiX teams are now curating the biggest sights and sounds from matches to create "Cognitive Highlights," which will be seen on Wimbledon's digital channels.
An example of one of IBM's Cognitive Highlights dashboards.
The AI platform will literally take key points from the tennis matches (like a player serving an ace at 100 mph), fans' cheers and social media content to help create up to two-minute videos. The two-week tourney at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, complete with aGoogle Doodle to celebrate Wimbledon's 140th anniversary, began Monday.
IBM's new Wimbledon highlights package comes about three months after experimenting withthe systemduringThe Masters, one of golf's biggest tournaments. Using AI, highlights featuring golfer Sergio Garcia's dramatic win were created from video, audio, and text and sent to a team of producers who quickly edited and added the pieces to an interactive dashboard.
At Wimbledon, the process will save editors and producers precious time sorting through clips, said John Smith, a multimedia manager at IBM'sT.J. Watson Research Center.
"With golf, there's a lot of action happening at different holes and similarly in tennis, there's so much play going on beyond Centre Court." he said. "We want the fans to see tennis in a unique way."
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Watchdog: London hospitals illegally shared data with Google AI company – The Hill
Posted: at 8:18 am
U.K. hospitals violated British data privacy laws in a deal with Googles artificial intelligence company, DeepMind, a privacy watchdog ruled Monday.
After a yearlong investigation, the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) said that the Royal Free NHS Foundation Trust, which is composedofthree London hospitals, has been asked to restructure its data-sharing practices to comply with the law.
We accept the ICOs findings and have already made good progress to address the areas where they have concerns, the Royal Free NHS Foundation Trust said in a statement. For example, we are now doing much more to keep our patients informed about how their data is used. We would like to reassure patients that their information has been in our control at all times and has never been used for anything other than delivering patient care or ensuring their safety.
DeepMind and the group had an agreement to develop an app that would alert doctors if patients were susceptible to acute kidney injury, according to The Verge. That deal went into effect in 2015 and has since been replaced with a new agreement.
The ICO said that it found a number of shortcomings in the arrangement, concluding that patients were not adequately informed about how theirdata was being used and that Royal Freeshould have been more transparent about the process.
Theres no doubt the huge potential that creative use of data could have on patient care and clinical improvements, but the price of innovation does not need to be the erosion of fundamental privacy rights, said Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham.
In a blog post, DeepMind cofounder Mustafa Suleyman and Dominic King, a senior scientist at the company, said that they welcome the thoughtful resolution of the case and stressed that patient data had not been compromised.
Although todays findings are about the Royal Free, we need to reflect on our own actions too, Suleyman and King wrote.In our determination to achieve quick impact when this work started in 2015, we underestimated the complexity of the NHS and of the rules around patient data, as well as the potential fears about a well-known tech company working in health.
In order to settle the matter, the ICO has asked thegroup to audit the program and come up with ways to ensure transparency and the privacy of its patients.
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Watchdog: London hospitals illegally shared data with Google AI company - The Hill
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Machines of loving grace: how Artificial Intelligence helped techno grow up – The Guardian
Posted: at 8:18 am
Home computing artwork for the Artificial Intelligence compilation. Photograph: Warp Records
In the days of ever-changing playlists and unlimited Soundcloud mixes it might seem strange that something as simple as a compilation album could change the course of music. And yet that was what happened 25 years ago this month, in July 1992, with the release of Warp Records first Artificial Intelligence compilation. It was a record that helped to launch the careers of Autechre, Aphex Twin and Richie Hawtin, birthed the genre that would later become known as intelligent dance music (or IDM), and changed the idea of electronic music as merely a tool for dancing.
Artificial Intelligence wore its heart on its sleeve: the front cover features an android slumped in an armchair in front of a stereo, with albums from Kraftwerk and Pink Floyd scattered around. Below this, the tagline electronic listening music from Warp spelled out the compilations modus operandi: this was electronic music for the home, not the rave a notion that was largely foreign 25 years ago.
In retrospect, the compilations tracklisting was equally historic. Aphex Twin, whose classic Selected Ambient Works 85-92 album had been released just five months previously, contributed the eerie Polygon Window under the pseudonym The Dice Man; Autechre appeared twice, with the joyous electro of Crystel and the Egg; Richie Hawtin (as UP!) was responsible for Spiritual High, a pulsating acid track that feels a little out of place in its out-and-out embrace of the dancefloor; Warp stalwarts Black Dog Productions (as IAO) contributed the warm electronic embrace of The Clan; B12 (as Musicology) served up breakbeat techno on Telefone 529 and the bleep-inspired Preminition; and Dutch producer Speedy J gave us elegant breakbeat number De-Orbit (and Fill 3 on the CD release). Even the Orb contributed, under the guise of leader Dr Alex Paterson, closing the record with a gorgeous live take on A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules from the Centre of the Ultraworld, known as Loving You Live.
The focus on electronic listening music that Artificial Intelligence encouraged may have been unusual but it was not entirely without precedent, even in 1992. The classic Detroit techno productions of the late 80s notably those of Derrick May had brought an increased melodic sophistication to dance music, while in the UK artists like the Orb and the KLF had helped to pioneer the armchair-friendly sound of ambient house. Meanwhile, Belgiums R&S Records probably Warps only real rival in terms of 1990s intelligent techno had already put out pioneering, thoughtful releases from the likes of Rising High Collective, Nexus 21 and Sun Electric.
You can hear these influences running through Artificial Intelligence. But Warp managed to codify this new strain of electronic music, signalling their intentions via the compilations name, strap line and cover art, as Warp co-founder Steve Beckett explained in Simon Reynolds Generation Ecstasy: You could sit down and listen to it like you would a Kraftwerk or Pink Floyd album. Thats why we put those sleeves on the cover of Artificial Intelligence to get it into peoples minds that you werent supposed to dance to it.
Warp would go on to release a groundbreaking series of electronic music albums under the Artificial Intelligence name (featuring all of the artists who appeared on the first AI comp apart from the Orb) leading to the release in May 1994 of the second, slightly disappointing compilation. By this time, though, the genre Warp had earmarked as electronic listening music and which had variously been known as art techno, intelligent techno and electronica had found itself another name, one that would prove hugely controversial over the years: IDM.
The new name had its origins in the electronic mailing list, then the bleeding edge of communication technology. In August 1993 the Hyperreal organisation set up the Intelligent Dance Music list to discuss music relating to Aphex Twin and Warps early Artificial Intelligence compilations (Aphex Twins Rephlex label also featured heavily). It was a name that proved controversial from the off, with its rather snobbish focus on intelligence being at odds with the all in it together ethos of rave (although, you could argue that such apparent snootiness was a precursor to the trainspotting Discogs nerdery that exists today). One of the very first posts to the new list asked can dumb people enjoy IDM, too? and few, if any, of the artists associated with the term have ever embraced it. And yet the name endured, particularly in the US where rave made less of an impact and electronic music was, for many years, an underground phenomenon that spread largely online.
The term IDM survives into 2017, although it remains as stubbornly hard to tie down as ever. If it was once defined by the Artificial Intelligence series, then the further we get from that series release, the harder it is to say who exactly is IDM among the fractured, ever-expanding array of electronic music sounds. Is Jlin, an artist who picked up comparison to the likes of Squarepusher thanks to her intricate post-footwork rhythmical mazes, IDM? How about Flying Lotus, who featured in Pitchforks recent 50 Best IDM Albums of All Time? Or Nina Kraviz and her label?
Well, until someone thinks of something better and stuff that sounds a bit like Aphex Twin just isnt going to cut it we might just be stuck with it. Either way, these kinds of taxonomic discussions are thankfully reserved for the most arid corners of the web, allowing Artificial Intelligences true legacy to shine: the album that announced techno as music for the mind as well as the feet.
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Machines of loving grace: how Artificial Intelligence helped techno grow up - The Guardian
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Immortality crowned best at Italian film festival – Tehran Times – Tehran Times
Posted: at 8:17 am
TEHRAN -- Immortality by Mehdi Fard-Qaderi won the award for best feature movie at the 15th Ischia Film Festival on the Italian island on Saturday, the organizers announced.
The film was competing in the official section of the festival, which began on June 24.
A jury composed of Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Zanussi, Portuguese screenwriter Miguel Barros and German producer Dagmar Jacobsen picked Immortality for the courageous use of a single location in a single shot.
Beyond his mastery, we recognize that it is a well-written and recited movie whose purpose is to provide a unique fresco in modern Iran. What a success, the jury said in a statement.
Immortality, which is a one-shot feature film, tells the story of some strangers who have to spend a rainy night together on a train.
Photo: Director Mehdi Fard-Qaderi holds an award for his movie Immortality at the 15th Ischia Film Festival in Italy on July 1, 2017.
RM/YAW
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Achieving immortality through literature – The Navhind Times
Posted: at 8:17 am
Konkani writer Vincy Quadros, has won the Sahitya Akademis Bal Sahitya Puraskar for his book on Jaduche Petul. NT BUZZ speaks to the writer about his journey into the literary world
Janice Savina Rodrigues|NT BUZZ
Writers and artists are a breed of the human race that has the privilege of attaining a sense of immortality through their work. Aiming to achieve such an end is Vincy Quardos. A Konkani writer, Vincy has had a long affiliation with writing, spanning over decades. He began writing at an age when other children would rather have been frolicking around in playgrounds, even before he could enter his teens. I began my writing career at the age of 12, when I wrote a tiatr called Chintunk Naslem, says the proud winner of this years Sahitya Akademis Bal Sahitya Puraskar.
Having won the award for his childrens fantasy book Jaduche Petul, Vincys tryst with writing continued unabated through his teens. As a young teenager, I started writing for magazines, and All India Radios programme under Prasar Bharatis youth-centric radio station, Yuvavani. I wrote stories, essays, skits and poetry for the programmes. Additionally at that time Novem Goem was a weekly then came other Konkani magazines, now I write for Jivit, Gulab and Dor Mhoineachi Rotti, says Vincy.
Vincy is also occupied in his day job which he says he balances with his writing career while burning the midnight oil. I handle the accounts for the Pepsi plant in Goa, and to balance it out I write only post work hours sometimes going into the wee hours of the morning about one or two a.m., he adds.
The childrens fantasy book Jaduche Petul was initially released in 2011 and this has been the fourth year that the book was nominated to the final round of the awards. I am very excited and feel honoured to win the award, it was a very emotional moment when I got to know that I had won national recognition for my work, he says.
The book is a story about a boy who is very poor but has a twist of fate. His life is changed when while on his walks about town and the woods he finds a treasure box, which happens to have a fairy inside it. She grants him a wish and turns him into a king, thereafter he finds a kingdom where there was no heir to take over after the king had died. He rules that kingdom with high morals. Even though he is young he knows how to rule over his subjects, and how to maintain the relationships with the neighbouring kingdoms, what should be the extent of fighting and how to keep aside your selfishness and be cordial towards the other people. He is just a child and yet he displays the maturity of an adult and wise man. This boy comes across another person who turns out to be a writer who then puts all the thoughts and morals of the king into writing as a book and the name of that book is Jaduche Petul. The story is further supported by pictorial representations of each situation, Vincy says.
Childrens literature is picking up across the globe, and Goa is not far behind. Ask Vincy how he perceives the scene for childrens writing, he replies very positively. In Goa, childrens writing is picking up now with the institutions like Konkani Bhasha Mandal and others doing very good work in the area. They have brought to the market a series of books, with coloured pictures and my intention is also to go along with their thinking and get children further interested in books, he says.
Vincy also stresses that just reading is not enough and that children should also learn what goes behind making of the books. When I was the vice president of the Goa Konkani Academi, I had started a Bal Sahitya Sammellan a conference for school children where they would be thought about books and their making. The conference was getting good response, but it was discontinued. Now with the help of like-minded institutions I want to revive it, he says.
About the keeping alive of the Konkani language, Vincy is of the opinion that the more people write, the better it is for the language. A person will die but his writing wont. Take the example of Shakespeare, he lived 500 years back but he continues to live through his poetry and plays. A language is kept alive by writing and a man is kept alive by his writing. Immortality through work is a writers forte, says Vincy.
Ask him how awards benefit a language, he responds: Simplicity is one of the qualities of being a human, the person who takes note and respects another persons efforts becomes a better human being. To have the knowledge of works in literature and to serve literature in all simplicity will be followed by awards and recognitions.
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Achieving immortality through literature - The Navhind Times
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Strawberry seeds show supplement promise – NutraIngredients.com
Posted: at 8:15 am
By David AndersonDavid Anderson , 03-Jul-20172017-07-03T00:00:00Z Last updated on 03-Jul-2017 at 16:38 GMT2017-07-03T16:38:38Z
Defatted strawberry seeds have great potential for use as ingredients in dietary supplements or products with high nutrition value, says a new study.
The research, which its authors claimed was the first of its kind, involved defatting strawberry seeds and analysing them for minerals, dietary fibre and polyphenols and was carried out by researchers in Poland.
Speaking to NutraIngredients, study lead author Krzysztof Koodziejczyk from Lodz University of Technology in Poland said: The most significant learning is that strawberry seeds, which are generally considered as waste product of strawberry juice production, are a source of significantly important components.
Since there is still large interest in sources of dietary fibre, one can imagine the use of defatted strawberry seeds in dietary fibre preparations. Defatted strawberry seeds are good source of dietary fibre, but it is not all.
They also contain phenolics typical for strawberries. As we know phenolics can contribute in prevention of some diseases, so the content of polyphenols in preparations made of defatted strawberry seeds in not negligible.
He said one area that further research could focus on in this area was how best to include defatted strawberries as food supplements.
There can be several possible ways of carry on the research. One can imagine the research on preparation of products to be used as food supplements, he told us.
The research on comparison of defatted strawberry seeds from various cultivars could be interesting as well."
Study details
Strawberry seeds were separated from industrial press cake of strawberry juice production in three consecutive harvest seasons. They were defatted by supercritical carbon dioxide at an experimental installation in Poland.
They were analysed for protein, fat, ash, minerals, saccharides, total dietary fibre and polyphenols.
The defatted seeds were found to be composed mainly of dietary fibres (on average 728g/kg dry matter) and proteins (167g/kg dry matter).The amount of polyphenols determined by HPLC (high-performance liquid chromatography) varied from 15.6 to 17.5g/kg of dry matter respectively over the production year.
There were two main groups of polyphenols: ellagitannins and flavanols. Total content of ellagitannins in seeds varied significantly with production year, but not flavanols.
Use in food supplements
Evaluating the composition of the defatted strawberry seeds, the researchers said: Defatted strawberry seeds can be used as additives with high- protein, high-fibre and favourable polyphenol composition, or in diet supplements rich in minerals, as well as a supplement with high nutrition value.
Defatted strawberry seeds may have a great potential for their use in the food and pharmaceutical industry.
Therefore, the present study facilitates the increased utilization of defatted strawberry seeds and the improved management of fruit industry by-products, resulting in environmental sustainability and economic benefits.
Asked about whether it was easy to get funding for projects of this ilk, Koodziejczyk told us: It depends on some factors It depends on what institution (university, research unit etc.) you work at, what research team you are a part of, what is your position as a researcher.
So there is no straight answer to such kind of question. The most important thing is the idea itself, and capacity to convince those who finance the projects.
Source: Food Science and Technology Volume 84, October 2017, Pages 1822, doi:10.1016/j.lwt.2017.05.014 "Defatted strawberry seeds as a source of phenolics, dietary fiber and minerals" Authors: Katarzyna Grzelak-Baszczyk, et al
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Imperial academic discusses his work on algae fuel factories – Phys.Org
Posted: at 8:15 am
July 4, 2017 by Colin Smith Coaxing bacteria to excrete biofuels is the focus of Imperial research. Credit: Imperial College London
Dr Antonio Del Rio Chanona from the Department of Chemical Engineering at Imperial College London is working on a new, rapid and cost effective way of creating biofuels. If successful his work may help sectors like the transport industry to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels.
Colin Smith caught up with him to find out more.
What are biofuels?
Conventional biofuels are produced from organic material biomass including plant material and organic waste. Traditional biofuel, used mainly in developing countries, include wood, animal dung and charcoal. In more developed countries, where more advanced and efficient conversion technologies are available, biofuels can be made from wood, crops and waste material. These forms of biofuels are converted into either solid, gaseous or liquid.
Biofuels have extraordinary potential to replace current fossil fuels in the transportation industry. However, the main issue with them is that they need to be more economically viable.
Are there other types of biofuels being developed?
Scientists are experimenting with getting some types of algae and bacteria to produce biofuels.
So far they've shown that algae, such as Chlamydomonas, and cyanobacteria, such as Cyanothece, can produce hydrogen fuel. Botryococcus algae can produce the hydrocarbon-based fuel biodiesel.
What are the drawbacks with these new approaches?
For biodiesel production, algae produce a fuel precursor called biolipid, which is accumulated inside algae cells.
To extract these biolipids, a series of separation procedures must be performed to break the cells apart so that the biolipid can be extracted for further refining. For industry, this separation process is over 20 per cent of the investment cost, which is huge.
What are excretable biofuels?
These are newly proposed types of biofuels. Different types of algae and bacteria could be 'programed' to 'manufacture' microscopic amounts of biofuels and excrete them into a solution.
Excreting the fuel would mean that there is no extraction process involving crushing the cells. This would make the separation procedure much less energy intensive and therefore more cost effective.
What will your work focus on?
I am collaborating with the research group led by Professor Klaus Hellgardt, from Imperial's Department of Chemical Engineering.
They are experimenting with several genetically modified types of algae in excretable biofuels production.
My research will focus on three particular algae strains: Cyanothece sp., Synechocystis sp, Chlamydomonas.
What type of biofuels are you hoping to produce?
Biohydrogen which is a clean transport fuel, biobutanol, which is a replacement of gasoline, and biohydrocarbon, which is an alternative to diesel.
How far how you got with the research?
So far, I have been working on biohydrogen and biohydrocarbon production. I have constructed different computer models and developed strategies to enhance the algae's ability to produce these biofuels.
Can you explain what types of industries would benefit most from these biofuels?
Energy firms would be the main beneficiaries from these technologies. Also, companies using algae to produce animal feed and food supplements can also get benefits by getting them to co-produce biofuels along with their primary products.
Can you estimate how long it would take for this to become a viable source of energy?
The European Union has launched a policy of using biofuels to support ten per cent of transport energy by 2020.
The European Algal Biomass Association has projected that the transition from laboratory experiments to industrial scale production of biofuels made from algae will happen within 10 years.
Explore further: Biofuels from algae: A budding technology yet to become viable
Despite high expectations and extensive research and investment in the last decade, technological options are still in developing stages and key resources for algal growth are still too onerous for economically viable production ...
The BIOFAT project which runs until April 2016 has confirmed algae's potential as a sustainable source of biofuel and bio-products with low greenhouse gas emissions. Pilot-scale processing facilities, each one-half ...
Algal biofuels are in trouble. This alternative fuel source could help reduce overall carbon emissions without taking land from food production, like many crop-based biofuels do. But several major companies including Shell ...
Algae-derived biofuel can reduce life cycle CO2 emissions by 50 to 70 percent compared to petroleum fuels, and is approaching a similar Energy Return on Investment (EROI) as conventional petroleum according to a new peer-reviewed ...
Algae are organisms useful in many ways in the transition towards a bio-economy. Even in a cool climate as in Finland, algae might be used to produce biochemicals and biofuels, besides use in capture of industrial carbon ...
Biofuels derived from the oils produced by algae may offer a low-cost sustainable alternative to fossil fuels. To achieve this goal, optimization of cost effective strategies for large-scale algae cultivation, such as in ...
For the first time, researchers have succeeded in establishing the relationships between 200-million-year-old plants based on chemical fingerprints. Using infrared spectroscopy and statistical analysis of organic molecules ...
A wealth of previously undescribed plant enzymes have been discovered by scientists at the John Innes Centre. The team who uncovered the compounds hope that harnessing the power of these enzymes will unlock a rich new vein ...
As senses go, there's nothing so immediate and concrete as our sense of touch. So it may come as a surprise that, on the molecular level, our sense of touch is still poorly understood.
The mass extinction that obliterated three-fourths of life on Earth, including non-avian dinosaurs, set the stage for the swift rise of frogs, a new study shows.
The conventional way of placing protein samples under an electron microscope during cryo-EM experiments may fall flat when it comes to getting the best picture of a protein's structure. In some cases, tilting a sheet of frozen ...
The town of Escalante in southern Utah is no small potatoes when it comes to scientific discovery; a new archaeological finding within its borders may rewrite the story of tuber domestication.
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Imperial academic discusses his work on algae fuel factories - Phys.Org
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