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Article: Science gets the CO2 out. (excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere) (includes related articles)
- Article from:
- Popular Science
- Article date:
- February 1, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1994 Bonnier Corporation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Energy conservation alone cannot halt the buildup of carbon dioxide, so scientists are looking for ways to capture and store the gas.
Three years ago, an inexperienced researcher at a laboratory in northern Japan poured two quarts of seawater into a glass vessel, put it under a light, and bubbled a stream of air with a 20-percent concentration of carbon dioxide through the water.
"It was silly," says Shigetoh Miyachi, director general of the laboratory, a part of the Marine Biotechnology Institute in Kamaishi, Japan. The researcher was supposed to be screening organisms tolerant of high carbon dioxide concentrations, but 20 percent was unreasonably high ...