Persevering for Progress

There will always be naysayers for new ideas. If you could ask Einstein, Edison, Newton, or Curie, they’d all have stories of the disbelief and abuse they endured when presenting their discoveries to not only the ordinary masses but the scientific communities in which they belonged as well. Sadly, not much has changed in this respect for research scientists today, especially those working around the clock to create a replacement for fossil fuels. The newest effort in this arena comes from a biotechnology company that has created a genetically engineered organism that when given sufficient sunlight and carbon dioxide will produce and secrete hydrocarbons, basically ethanol. Not all the kinks have been worked out, but they hope to have a replacement fuel available in two years. This is where the naysayers jump in, and not surprisingly the first to throw stones come from scientific research competitors.  Hopefully the scientists working on this newest type of biofuel will persevere beyond the “bad press”, as many great scientists before them, in order to provide the alternative fuel source we so desperately need.