Scientists Turn To Popeye To Save Planet.

By Geoffrey Lean.
Environment Editor. The Independent.

Scientists have enlisted a new ally in the battle to save the planet-Popeye.
They have found that spinach ,which gives the cartoon sailor his superhuman strength,
could be the power source the world needs to combat global warming. The discovery could lead to
a new version of the old instruction ."Heat up your greens."
Researchers at Massachusetts Inst' of tech' reported last week that the leafy veg' could provide
the missing ingredient needed to make solar cells sufficiently cheap and efficient to provide the
world with electricity. The cells work by harnessing the power of photosynthesis to convert
light into electrical energy.
The MIT team-which reports its findings in the current issue of the scientific magazine
'Nano letters' – isolated photosynthetic proteins from the leaves, laid them on a thin gold film
and covered them with an organic material that conducts electricity. When they shone light
on this high-tech sandwich ,power was produced.
Prof' Marc Dando said that they aimed "to take advantage of two billion years of evolution" by
building on the way that nature had developed to convert sunlight into electricity,rather than
by doing it artificially.
But why spinach ? "There's a lot of it and it's very, very green." He added that the team was
now experimenting with peas too ,and had thought of using "Olive Oyl" as a stabilizer.
The olive is actually ahead in providing green energy. Five power stations burning olive oil
already supply homes in Anadalusia, Spain.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Add a little 'Hemp' plant to all this and maybe their really could be a 'better world'