Mohamed El-Naggar Hot-Wires Bacteria To Build Semiconductors
Mohamed El-Naggar Jeff NewtonHow to turn the bugs into power for clean energy devices "Everything I do is about finding something that microbes can do that we can't and then figuring out how they do it," Mohamed El-Naggar says as he pulls up images of anaerobic bacteria on his computer at the University of Southern California. This type of bug is incredibly common, he says. "If you dig a few centimeters in the soil in your garden, you're guaranteed to find them." Mohamed El-NaggarAge 32University of Southern CaliforniaScientists have known for decades that garden-variety anaerobic bacteria can move electrons to solid rock and that this transfer results in a tiny electrical charge. But exactly how they do so was poorly understood until three years ago, when El-Naggar discovered just how the bacteria grow protein nanowires to shuttle electrons to their surroundings. "It's a quality we're familiar with from our copper...