48The Military Engineer l May-June l 2010 The Armys of?cial science and tech- nology blog, Army Technology Live, released a public iPhone application last month. The application puts Army technology news, updates and media, such as images and video, in one loca- tion. The Army Technology Live iPhone application is available as a free down- load from the Apple iTunes Store. Apple technologies offer unique and proven solutions with intuitive designs that allow users to learn quickly without a training manual, said Ron Szyman- ski, CERDECs lead computer scientist on the project. The Army would like to leverage Apples experience when de- signing military applications. Engaging companies such as Apple allows the Army research and develop- ment community to leverage commer- cial business models as well, said Dr. Gerardo J. Melendez, Director of the CERDEC Command and Control Direc- torate. As we push to develop more com- mercial capabilities to meet Army in- formation and knowledge management needs, its important that we engage companies such as Apple because we stand to bene?t just as much from their lessons learned and best practices, Melendez said. Eliminating unneces- sary processes or degrees of trial and error can only help us as we transition applications that can be deployed to numerous tactical levels throughout the Army. The meeting ended with plans for fu- ture technical discussions between the organizations. (Contributed by Edric Thompson, CER- DEC Public Affairs) Microbes Produce Fuels Directly from Biomass A collaboration led by researchers with the Department of Energys Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) has devel- oped a microbe that can produce bio- fuel directly from biomass. Deploying the tools of synthetic biology, the JBEI researchers engineered a strain of Es- cherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria to pro- duce biodiesel fuel and other important chemicals derived from fatty acids. The fact that our microbes can pro- duce a diesel fuel directly from biomass with no additional chemical modi?ca- tions is exciting and important, says Jay Keasling, Chief Executive Of?cer of JBEI and a leading scienti?c authority on synthetic biology. Given that the costs of recovering biodiesel are no- where near the costs required to dis- till ethanol, we believe our results can signi?cantly contribute to the ultimate goal of producing scalable and cost- effective advanced biofuels and renew- able chemicals. Keasling led the collaboration, which was made up of a team from JBEIs Fu- els Synthesis Division and a team from LS9, a privately-held industrial biotech- nology ?rm based in South San Fran- cisco, Calif. A combination of ever-increasing en- ergy costs and global warming concerns has created an international imperative for new transportation fuels that are renewable and can be produced in a sustainable fashion. Scienti?c studies have consistently shown that liquid fu- els derived from plant biomass are one of the best alternatives if a cost-effec- tive means of commercial production can be found. Major research efforts to this end are focused on fatty acids—the energy-rich molecules in living cells that have been dubbed natures petro- leum. Fuels and chemicals have been pro- duced from the fatty acids in plant and animal oils for more than a century. These oils now serve as the raw mate- rials for biodiesel fuel, and for a wide range of important chemical products including surfactants, solvents and lu- bricants. The increased demand and lim- ited supply of these oils has resulted in competition with food, higher prices, questionable land-use practices and environmental concerns associated with their production, Keasling says. A more scalable, controllable and eco- nomic alternative route to these fuels and chemicals would be through the microbial conversion of renewable feedstocks, such as biomass-derived carbohydrates. Technology News (continued) 20 Years of Serving the Federal Government Sol Inc. 800.959.1329 www.solarlighting.com Sol Inc. Solar Lighting Systems: Reduce energy use Improve Safety and Security Immune to blackouts Reliable Partner: Made in USA for 20 years 200+ Bases and Federal sites 24/7 Technical support Solar Lights: Engineered for the Mission www.solarlighting.com Lighting Systems for: Parking lots Perimeter fences Jogging trails
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