TRESS ARE LIQUID

Spintronics is a SciShow sponsor for this episode.In the new game Spintronics, players construct mechanical circuits to answer riddles.Visit upperstory.com/spintronics to play the game online!You may not agree with me, but I adore trees.Nothing compares to taking a stroll along a woodland trail, relaxing on a patio under a tree, or creating lifelong memories in a backyard treehouse.And trees have a lot of advantages!They eliminate extra carbon dioxide and provide delicious, pure oxygen for us to breathe.However, some of the locations where it is most difficult to plant and manage those trees are also the locations where they are most needed, such as large, crowded cities.Because of this, some scientists are working to make trees liquid in an effort to improve on nature's design.[INTRO]On SciShow, we are unequivocally pro-tree.By storing extra carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, producing the oxygen we need to breathe, and capturing particulates to help clean the air, trees contribute to the fight against climate change.Even while trees are wonderful, it doesn't make sense for them to grow everywhere.First of all, trees are large.To illustrate how enormous things are, we physically compare them to trees.They also require planting in soil that is rich in nutrients.Cities have limited amounts of space and soil.Additionally, the root systems of trees can harm infrastructure like sewers and walkways.In addition, despite how effective they are in removing pollutants from the air, trees often end up holding onto them.Therefore, trees tend to live shorter lives and do not thrive as well in locations with high amounts of air pollution, such as cities.When you consider that a single car burning through one tank of gas produces less carbon than that, you realize that a tree can absorb up to 150 kg of carbon each year, which initially sounds amazing.So, one of the main advantages of trees demands much more than simply one or two trees.We're talking about levels of tree cover that extend into the suburbs.Additionally, it is more difficult stated than done for cities, counties, municipalities, and neighborhoods to invest in the long-term happiness of the trees when it comes to cultivating and preserving urban trees.And it doesn't even consider some of the negative aspects of trees, such as how awful seasonal pollen allergies can be!Seasonal allergies affect one in four persons in the US, so the suffering is nothing to sneeze at.In order to provide us with some of the same advantages that trees do, several academics are investigating whether we may employ non-trees.They ended up using photobioreactors as a result.In order to allow people to manage the growth of the microscopic, photosynthesizing organisms they contain, photobioreactors are closed, illuminated containers that house countless numbers of them.Imagine a huge, brilliant, green water tank that is stocked with algae or microorganisms.The organisms in the tanks extract carbon dioxide from the surroundings and release oxygen back into the atmosphere through photosynthesis.Photobioreactors have other uses in addition to their possible future as a source of tree juice.like the treatment of waste.The algae in a reactor remove nitrogen and phosphorus-containing contaminants from the water.They can even pick up bigger organic materials, such as the kind found in waste water, and pollutants like estradiol, a hormone present in birth control pills.Additionally, we're learning that certain microalgae create biological substances that can be vital for things like medicines.It would also be far better than just gathering the compounds from wild algae to cultivate those algae in a photobioreactor because the production of such compounds is efficient and under control.If you want to go all science fiction about it, photobioreactors may one day be utilized to produce 100% edible greens for space salads as well as to remove carbon dioxide from spaceships and release oxygen.There would be no waste as algae don't have roots, stems, or leaves to discard.And back home on Earth, photobioreactors are being used to create spirulina, the popular superfood that is added to smoothies, baked goods, and other delicious blue dishes to boost their protein content.Therefore, photobioreactors could generally aid us with a ton of amazing stuff.But why are we concerned about them as the next generation of trees?Well, the removal of carbon dioxide and release of oxygen by photobioreactors seems awfully similar to what trees do.What we actually need trees to do is to absorb carbon dioxide and provide oxygen to large populations of humans in areas where they struggle to survive.cities, for example.For this reason, Serbian researchers developed the LIQUID3 photobioreactor, which is currently housed in Belgrade.A type of Serbian single-celled algae is used by the LIQUID3.Because the algae can withstand both high and low temperatures, the "trees" can photosynthesize and pump out new oxygen all year round as opposed to stopping during the winter like deciduous trees.One of the researchers claims that a 600-liter tank, which is about the size of a park bench, performs the same function as two trees that are ten years old or 200 square meters of grass.This prototype serves as a bench, a street lamp, and has built-in phone charging stations thanks to a solar panel that produces the electricity needed to light it at night.Liquid trees therefore have the additional advantage of being able to offer other necessary functions in addition to air cleansing.Perhaps solar-powered heaters in freezing cities, or electrified timetables at bus stops.Plus, it's just cool to see a huge, lighting green tank in the middle of a downtown sidewalk.They can also serve as a quicker, more temporary fix for pressing pollution and air quality issues.Instead of needing to wait up to 30 years to reach an adult tree's potential for creating oxygen, the LIQUID3 is ready to start purifying the air as soon as it is placed.Additionally, photobioreactors require less upkeep than trees do.About every six weeks, some of the algae needs to be removed as it grows, but other than that, there is not much maintenance required.Additionally, the extra algae can be used as fertilizer, so nothing is actually wasted!Additionally, since photobioreactors may be shaped into any shape, you are not constrained by space.Without worrying about whether there enough soil to support a real tree, you may place them in the most polluted parts of a city where they would benefit the most.Therefore, liquid trees may be able to provide us with some of the environmental advantages of tree trees without the complications.Liquid trees, however cool they may appear, cannot replace the visual and mental health advantages of having green places nearby, especially in urban areas.Which implies that they will never be able to replace trees.Tanks and trunks will both play a role in our efforts to create cleaner, greener cities.And I have no plans to abandon my treehouse any time soon!We appreciate your time watching this SciShow film and the support of Spintronics!Spintronics is a time-traveling educational puzzle, graphic novel, and game that you may play alone or with family and friends.It transports you back to the moment you first encountered electricity.You'll create increasingly complex circuits as the game progresses to meet your expanding needs.The goal of this game is to create mechanical replicas of modern electronics that are palpable, irresistibly touchable, and profoundly intuitive.This business, like SciShow, is driven by unending curiosity.Thus, Spintronics is wonderful for both children and adults because learning is something that can be done at any age.You can find out more about the game's science right now at upperstory.com/spintronics.We appreciate your continued curiosity![OUTRO]