Apple | Mobile |
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Business Dev & Design Entertainment | Social Media Tech Web Video |
Apple | Mobile |
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Business Dev & Design Entertainment | Social Media Tech Web Video |
Operates as a real time search engine.
Year Established: | 7/08 |
Funding: | 765k |
Address: | Mountain View, CA 94041 |
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Mobile: | |
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Mail: | contact@scoopler.com |
Company URL: | http://www.scoopler.com |
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In another venue namely biofuel production the tiny gribble may become a superstar quickly and cheaply converting wood straw corncobs and the like into nutrient-rich plant sugars and from there into alcohol-based fuels to run combustion engines like the one in your car or truck.
At least thatââ¬â¢s what British scientists from York and Portsmouth University think and their idea published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that the loathsome-looking little bug with many legs can digest woody substances with an ease not found in any other member of the creepy kingdom.
Gribbles which look like pinkish or yellowish woodlice digest the wood via cellulases or enzymes that they produce in their gut. The species currently under the microscope at either York or Portsmouth University is Limnoria quadripunctata (call it ââ¬ÅL. quadââ¬Â for short).
Among sailing enthusiasts and members of Long Island Soundââ¬â¢s yacht clubs this little dude has been identified as one of the three most destructive versions of Limnoria. The other two L. lignorum and L. tripunctata rank alongside L. quad in destructive capacity and ââ¬â like villains in every venue ââ¬â their exact origin is unknown though scientists speculate that they may be descended from wood-boring worms (though clearly not from Dale Gribble or his father Bug). Currently gribbles related to L. quad are charged with eating away at the timber platform on top of Seattleââ¬â¢s seawall.
The scientists located this amazing enzyme after studying the digestive tracts of L. quad where it is genetically coded. The finding may not surprise criminal profilers who cite genes as causing at least half the mischief in this world but its discovery promises a new era of biofuels that donââ¬â¢t cause starvation by using foodstocks or soil depletion via ââ¬Åfactory farmingââ¬Â of trees plants or grasses.
The research comes from the efforts of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) whose $39-million Sustainable Bioenergy Centre is searching for an alternative to fossil-fuel driven transportation according to member Duncan Eggar.
If gribble gas becomes the solution to cheap and easily-produced biofuel it could be combined with solar cells on hybrid vehicles to deliver a completely emissions-free ride with the battery getting its daily charge from the solar cells instead of an electric socket and the gas kicking in when the battery is low and the sun isnââ¬â¢t shining.
This in fact is the reason experts say that hybrid vehicles arenââ¬â¢t truly ââ¬Ågreenââ¬Â; they get their charge from an electricity generation mix that is 49 percent coal at least across most of the continental U.S. The balance of that generation mix is largely gas and oil with nuclear providing about 20 percent hydro just over seven percent and renewables like solar and wind providing less than one percent each.
Of course making transportation completely environmentally friendly depends on improved solar-cell efficiency but once that goal is achieved the combination of gribble gas and solar energy could keep traffic moving without pollution and pricey gasoline. It could also end Americaââ¬â¢s dependence on foreign oil.
Avalon Ventures,Individuals,Undisclosed Firm
AJ Asver AJ is a problem solver. He is passionate about real-time content and its revolutionary impact on the internet. Scoopler is AJ’s second start-up as he was previously co-founder and Managing Director of Groupspaces, a tool for clubs and societies to manage their memberships. AJ holds a degree in Computer Science from Oxford University.
Dilan Jayawardane Dilan loves building products. Prior to founding Scoopler, he worked at Oracle, Inc as a member of the RDBMS team. Dilan is passionate about audio and in the past built one of the worlds first location aware surround-sound systems, which adjusts to your position in the room. He holds a degree in Computer Science from MIT.
Ben Tauber Ben is all about product design and execution. Before joining Scoopler, he was a Product Manager of Platform, Operations and SaaS for Acrobat Connect Pro at Adobe Systems, Inc. Prior to that he worked at a biotech company where he wrote an application which searched the human genome for new hormones. He holds a Computer Science degree from University of California, San Diego.