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Scientists create bio-engineered mushroom that generates renewable energy
A mushroom has been turned into a renewable energy generator using 3D printed materials and bacteria. In a paper published by the journal Nano Letters, scientists from the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey detailed their experiment wherein strands of graphene were intertwined with cyanobacterial cells on a mushroom cap to capture 65 nanoamps of power. While this amount of power is a fraction of what would be needed to power even an LED, the initial results are promising for further development as a source of renewable energy.
What are Cyanobacteria?
Cyanobacteria, more commonly known as “blue-green algae”, are aquatic, photosynthetic bacteria that have been around for about 3.5 billion years. In addition to the energy produced by photosynthesis, cyanobacteria also produce oxygen, and their ancient ancestors are credited with producing the original oxygen in our atmosphere. These bacteria are further responsible for the origin of plants – the chloroplasts that enable photosynthesis are actually cyanobacterium living in plant cells.
When these bacteria photosynthesize, a fraction of the electrons resulting from the process are released into the surrounding environment. This process of light-induced electric current, termed “photocurrent”, is not very efficient in nature. However, the scientists in this experiment designed a 3D-printable mixture with the bacteria which made the distribution of cells more efficient for photocurrent generation and collection. After being printed onto a mushroom cap, the photocurrent produced was eight times greater than what is produced naturally.
Other Materials
Graphene is a semimetal form of carbon with electrical conductivity and a very thin size. In fact, it’s one of the thinnest materials ever produced. Due to these properties, it was chosen as the base of the 3D printed ink to collect the electricity from the cyanobacteria placed on the mushroom cap. Mushrooms were chosen first to provide a surface and nutrients for the cyanobacteria to grow, and second, they enabled the bacteria to last several days longer compared to other bases and materials.
By accessing and augmenting the unique properties of both the bacteria and nanomaterials (graphene), the scientists in this study have created a new functional bio-hybrid system. With their proof-of-concept “bionic” mushroom, they are hopeful their research can be used to expand to include more bio-hybrid applications. The bacteria themselves have several other properties which can be integrated for purposes such as glowing identification tags for medical use, toxin sensing, and fuel production.
The Future is Now
Cyanobacteria are already being used for other “green” projects besides energy generation, namely in removing CO2 from the air as a result of manufacturing. In one prominent example, Lennaeus University in Sweden has created a system of pushing gases produced in cement production through water bags full of cyanobacteria called the Algoland project. Through this process, nearly all of the CO2 is scrubbed from the emissions using the bacteria’s natural photosynthesis. Other natural limitations of the bacteria are being addressed by projects using techniques such as gene editing for more efficient CO2 conversion and rate of growth.
Tesla stock (NASDAQ: TSLA) closed at an all-time high on Tuesday, jumping over 3 percent during the day and finishing at $489.88.
The price beats the previous record close, which was $479.86.
Shares have had a crazy year, dipping more than 40 percent from the start of the year. The stock then started to recover once again around late April, when its price started to climb back up from the low $200 level.
This week, Tesla started to climb toward its highest levels ever, as it was revealed on Sunday that the company was testing driverless Robotaxis in Austin. The spike in value pushed the company’s valuation to $1.63 trillion.
Tesla Robotaxi goes driverless as Musk confirms Safety Monitor removal testing
It is the seventh-most valuable company on the market currently, trailing Nvidia, Apple, Alphabet (Google), Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta.
Shares closed up $14.57 today, up over 3 percent.
The stock has gone through a lot this year, as previously mentioned. Shares tumbled in Q1 due to CEO Elon Musk’s involvement with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which pulled his attention away from his companies and left a major overhang on their valuations.
However, things started to rebound halfway through the year, and as the government started to phase out the $7,500 tax credit, demand spiked as consumers tried to take advantage of it.
Q3 deliveries were the highest in company history, and Tesla responded to the loss of the tax credit with the launch of the Model 3 and Model Y Standard.
Additionally, analysts have announced high expectations this week for the company on Wall Street as Robotaxi continues to be the focus. With autonomy within Tesla’s sights, things are moving in the direction of Robotaxi being a major catalyst for growth on the Street in the coming year.
Elon Musk
Tesla needs to come through on this one Robotaxi metric, analyst says
“We think the key focus from here will be how fast Tesla can scale driverless operations (including if Tesla’s approach to software/hardware allows it to scale significantly faster than competitors, as the company has argued), and on profitability.”
Tesla needs to come through on this one Robotaxi metric, Mark Delaney of Goldman Sachs says.
Tesla is in the process of rolling out its Robotaxi platform to areas outside of Austin and the California Bay Area. It has plans to launch in five additional cities, including Houston, Dallas, Miami, Las Vegas, and Phoenix.
However, the company’s expansion is not what the focus needs to be, according to Delaney. It’s the speed of deployment.
The analyst said:
“We think the key focus from here will be how fast Tesla can scale driverless operations (including if Tesla’s approach to software/hardware allows it to scale significantly faster than competitors, as the company has argued), and on profitability.”
Profitability will come as the Robotaxi fleet expands. Making that money will be dependent on when Tesla can initiate rides in more areas, giving more customers access to the program.
There are some additional things that the company needs to make happen ahead of the major Robotaxi expansion, one of those things is launching driverless rides in Austin, the first city in which it launched the program.
This week, Tesla started testing driverless Robotaxi rides in Austin, as two different Model Y units were spotted with no occupants, a huge step in the company’s plans for the ride-sharing platform.
Tesla Robotaxi goes driverless as Musk confirms Safety Monitor removal testing
CEO Elon Musk has been hoping to remove Safety Monitors from Robotaxis in Austin for several months, first mentioning the plan to have them out by the end of 2025 in September. He confirmed on Sunday that Tesla had officially removed vehicle occupants and started testing truly unsupervised rides.
Although Safety Monitors in Austin have been sitting in the passenger’s seat, they have still had the ability to override things in case of an emergency. After all, the ultimate goal was safety and avoiding any accidents or injuries.
Goldman Sachs reiterated its ‘Neutral’ rating and its $400 price target. Delaney said, “Tesla is making progress with its autonomous technology,” and recent developments make it evident that this is true.
Investor's Corner
Tesla gets bold Robotaxi prediction from Wall Street firm
Last week, Andrew Percoco took over Tesla analysis for Morgan Stanley from Adam Jonas, who covered the stock for years. Percoco seems to be less optimistic and bullish on Tesla shares, while still being fair and balanced in his analysis.
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) received a bold Robotaxi prediction from Morgan Stanley, which anticipates a dramatic increase in the size of the company’s autonomous ride-hailing suite in the coming years.
Last week, Andrew Percoco took over Tesla analysis for Morgan Stanley from Adam Jonas, who covered the stock for years. Percoco seems to be less optimistic and bullish on Tesla shares, while still being fair and balanced in his analysis.
Percoco dug into the Robotaxi fleet and its expansion in the coming years in his latest note, released on Tuesday. The firm expects Tesla to increase the Robotaxi fleet size to 1,000 vehicles in 2026. However, that’s small-scale compared to what they expect from Tesla in a decade.
Tesla expands Robotaxi app access once again, this time on a global scale
By 2035, Morgan Stanley believes there will be one million Robotaxis on the road across multiple cities, a major jump and a considerable fleet size. We assume this means the fleet of vehicles Tesla will operate internally, and not including passenger-owned vehicles that could be added through software updates.
He also listed three specific catalysts that investors should pay attention to, as these will represent the company being on track to achieve its Robotaxi dreams:
- Opening Robotaxi to the public without a Safety Monitor. Timing is unclear, but it appears that Tesla is getting closer by the day.
- Improvement in safety metrics without the Safety Monitor. Tesla’s ability to improve its safety metrics as it scales miles driven without the Safety Monitor is imperative as it looks to scale in new states and cities in 2026.
- Cybercab start of production, targeted for April 2026. Tesla’s Cybercab is a purpose-built vehicle (no steering wheel or pedals, only two seats) that is expected to be produced through its state-of-the-art unboxed manufacturing process, offering further cost reductions and thus accelerating adoption over time.
Robotaxi stands to be one of Tesla’s most significant revenue contributors, especially as the company plans to continue expanding its ride-hailing service across the world in the coming years.
Its current deployment strategy is controlled and conservative to avoid any drastic and potentially program-ruining incidents.
So far, the program, which is active in Austin and the California Bay Area, has been widely successful.
Tesla stock closes at all-time high on heels of Robotaxi progress
Tesla needs to come through on this one Robotaxi metric, analyst says
