Engineered Superbugs Boost Hopes Of Turning Seaweed Into Fuel

In the search for renewable fuels, there’s no perfect solution. Biofuels can be readily made from corn starch and sugar cane, but they take land and resources away from food crops. Feedstocks such as switchgrass and wood sidestep that problem—but they are hamstrung by a molecule called lignin, which makes it harder to extract the sugars that ferment into ethanol.