SSS 2008-10-22

（单词翻译）

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Cynthia Graber. This will just take a minute.

There’s a push now to find the fuel of the future. Will it come from corn? Sugarcane? How about bugs¹? University of Florida entomologist Michael Scharf says termites³ may play a major role. He makes that claim in the November issue of the journal Biofuels, Bioproducts & Biorefining.

Termites produce enzymes⁴. Those enzymes work with microorganisms in the bug’s gut⁵. When termites munch⁶ their way through your house, the enzymes and microbes together turn wood into simple sugars. Biofuels today come from edible⁷ plant material, such as starch⁸ in corn or sugar in sugarcane. There’s a great deal of potential energy in tougher parts of the plants, but it’s locked in something called lignocellulose. Researchers have been investigating heating the woody material, or grinding it and treating it. And a handful of research groups are studying the termite² system.

Scientists have identified a few of the enzymes and microbes involved, but they say it’ll take more research and time to apply this system to our own hunger for biofuels. We may also need to turn to other munching⁹ bugs like wood-boring beetles¹⁰. Maybe someday they’ll be heating our homes, not eating them.

Thanks for the minute for Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Cynthia Graber.