• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
  • WordPress
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
Science Update

Science Update

Sharing Science | Satisfying Curiosity | Debunking BS

  • Spotlights
  • Reality Check
  • Why Is It?
  • Radio Archives
  • Sciup @ School
Home » Radio Archive » Daily Show » Tomato Power

Tomato Power

March 16, 2016
https://podcast.scienceupdate.com/160316_sciup_tomato.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window

Jose and Roxanne CC BY 2.0 via flickr
(Jose and Roxanne/CC BY 2.0, via flickr)

BOB HIRSHON (host):

Can tomatoes produce juice? I’m Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.

Tomatoes are popular not only with humans, but also with bacteria—which is why fresh tomatoes sometimes turn into mush soon after you buy them. That gave environmental engineer Venkata Gadhamshetty at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology an idea: since bacteria produce free electrons when they break down organic matter, maybe feeding bacteria tomatoes would be a practical way to generate electricity.

VENKATA GADHAMSHETTY (South Dakota School of Mines and Technology):

If you give the best form of organic matter, like tomatoes, they are going to jump with joy, and they are going to turn them into electricity instantly.

HIRSHON:

At a meeting of American Chemical Society, he described work demonstrating the feasibility of tomato power. He says tomato processing plants now send tons of organic waste to landfills—waste that could produce electricity for the factory and surrounding community. I’m Bob Hirshon, for AAAS, the science society.

Category: Daily Show, Station DownloadTag: Chemistry, Energy, Plants & Agriculture
Previous Post:Insect Wings & Vision
Next Post:Simulated Octopus Skin

Sidebar

Radio Program Archives

Want to learn more about the brain? The environment? Here you can browse the topics that come up regularly on Science Update.

Search the Archives

Categories

  • Daily Show
  • Station Download
  • Weekly Show

Find By Tag

  • 2020
  • Acoustics & Sound
  • Aging
  • Animal Behavior
  • Anthropology
  • Archaeology
  • Astronomy & Space
  • Biology
  • Brain Science
  • Bugs
  • Chemistry
  • Children & Families
  • cicadas
  • Climate & Weather
  • Communications
  • Computer Science
  • Economics & Business
  • Education
  • Energy
  • Engineering & Technology
  • Environment & Conservation
  • Genetics & Evolution
  • Geology
  • Marine Science
  • Materials Science
  • Mathematics
  • Medicine & Health
  • Microbiology
  • Nanotechnology
  • Nutrition & Food Science
  • Paleontology & Dinosaurs
  • Physics
  • Plants & Agriculture
  • Political Science
  • Reality Check
  • Social & Behavioral Sciences
  • Sports & Fitness
  • spotlight
  • Spotlight Bugs
  • Terrorism & War
  • Why Is It? Questions
  • Wildlife
  • Year in Review

Find By Date

Science Update
  • About Science Update
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • YouTube

Recent Posts

Mayan Honeybee hives
House sparrow wearing top hat rides aboard a red fireworks rocket

Copyright © 2023 · Springtail Media LLC · All Rights Reserved · Powered by Pongos