by Richard T. Stuebi

Thanks to my friend and fellow blogger Ed Beardsworth for making me aware of this gem:

As discussed in overview in this article, researchers at the University of Cincinnati have found that frogs of a certain species, the Tungara frog to be exact, secrete a foam that seems to turbocharge the photosynthetic effect — thus offering the tantalizing prospect of removing carbon dioxide in the air while increasing the productivity of converting organic matter into biofuels.

The paper, “Artificial Photosynthesis in Ranaspumin-2 Based Foam” in the journal Nano Letters, cannot be found at your local newsstand and is not likely to become a bestseller. But, maybe some synthetic foams with the same properties as the Tungara frog’s might become commercially-interesting in both carbon sequestration and biofuel production.

Richard T. Stuebi is a founding principal of NorTech Energy Enterprise, the advanced energy initiative at NorTech, where he is on loan from The Cleveland Foundation as its Fellow of Energy and Environmental Advancement. He is also a Managing Director in charge of cleantech investment activities at Early Stage Partners, a Cleveland-based venture capital firm.