Empowering Undergraduates to Fight Climate Change with Soil Microbes.
DNA Cell Biol
; 41(1): 58-63, 2022 Jan.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1890820
ABSTRACT
The burning of fossil fuels to meet a growing demand for energy has created a climate crisis that threatens Earth's fragile ecosystems. While most undergraduate students are familiar with solar and wind energy as sustainable alternatives to fossil fuels, many are not aware of a climate solution right beneath their feet-soil-dwelling microbes! Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) harness energy from the metabolic activity of microbes in the soil to generate electricity. Recently, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic transformed the traditional microbiology teaching laboratory into take-home laboratory kits and online modes of delivery, which could accommodate distance learning. This laboratory exercise combined both virtual laboratory simulations and a commercially available MFC kit to challenge undergraduate students to apply fundamental principles in microbiology to real-world climate solutions.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Soil
/
Climate Change
Language:
English
Journal:
DNA Cell Biol
Journal subject:
Molecular Biology
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Dna.2021.0551
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