In China, where labor costs are relatively low, synthetic starch costs $300,000 a catty, which is a bit high, but helps solve major challenges in the future.
If you don't know about synthetic bovine insulin, you may be surprised by this picture
One of the scientific and technological breakthroughs in 2023 is the work of Tianjin scientists: de novo synthesis of carbon dioxide to starch. Judging from the reports, this "achievement" has received top praise: editors of international journals, academicians and experts, mainstream media and regional governments have all praised all kinds of praise, as if they have won more than one Nobel Prize in chemistry.
Corn and buckwheat grow quickly
However, from the perspective of ordinary people who have received general higher education related majors, a considerable number of them have already looked stupid, and their thinking is a little unable to keep up. Similarly, in the eyes of ordinary people in other professions who retain the ability to think independently, a considerable number of them will feel very confused: Can synthetic starch help solve major challenges, is it because it is expensive (Musk can't afford it)?
Lab synthesis is good and fast
The characteristic is that it is 300,000 pounds more expensive, which is the US dollar
If I am allowed to express different opinions, I would like to illustrate a little bit of common sense and do a little bit of science popularization for readers in primary and secondary schools; As for the readers at the university level and even higher, the level is higher than mine, so I can correct it a lot.
First of all, let's introduce the relevant technology, according to my understanding: the full synthesis of starch is in the laboratory, through the optimization of the synthesis pathway, the use of genetic engineering technology modified enzymes (biocatalysts), to achieve the whole reaction of carbon dioxide molecules from immobilization to starch. It is said that it takes 4 hours to go through 11 steps.
This creation is a miracle born under the pressure of the project due to be completed
There are two doubts: biocatalytic reactions are too general without binding specific quantities (concentration, volume). Biological reactions are inherently fast and efficient.
In addition, those who have gone through compulsory education understand that in normal metabolism, starch is consumed and absorbed as food, and the last metabolite is carbon dioxide, which is sent out by the lungs. To reverse this process, it is necessary to reverse the reaction at each step of the biochemical reaction, and in addition to the relative concentration difference, the most important thing is to provide energy. The unit of energy in living organisms is adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which needs to be added in large quantities; Other coenzymes NADH NADPH may also be used, and these things that I have forgotten what they are called should also be added in moderation. These organic molecules, especially high-purity products, are very expensive, and the cost is by no means lower than that of starch, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is a hundred times.
Taking expensive reagents to produce cheap products, ordinary people can't turn around in their thinking, and ordinary people can't understand it from a scientific perspective.
Here's what scientists and editors of top international journals have to say:
"In accordance with the principle of engineering, the use of biological computing technology, the design and construction of unnatural carbon dioxide fixed reduction and starch synthesis of a new path, in the laboratory for the first time in the world to achieve de novo synthesis from carbon dioxide to starch, so that the traditional agricultural planting mode of starch production to the industrial workshop production mode is possible."
"Will have a huge impact on the next generation of biomanufacturing and agricultural development"
"will help solve the major challenges we face in the future"
……
Its far-reaching significance, in words, has the momentum of surpassing China's science and technology, the pinnacle of science and technology - China's aerospace.
Since the 50s of the last century, under the leadership of the great Qian Xuesen, China's aerospace industry has developed step by step from following the advanced to the point where there is no one left and right, and has achieved recognized high-tech exemplary achievements.
The public's understanding of aerospace has also shifted from the successful launch of rockets and the accurate launch of the load into orbit to the real achievements of aerospace science and technology: the Beidou series, the Gaofen series, the live broadcast satellite, the space station, and deep space exploration.
At the beginning, I questioned why the country was not rich and why it didn't save some money, build more hope primary schools, and pay more attention to the idea of poor people, this view no longer resonates; The funny thing is that every time a space goal is achieved, this sound comes out, but it can only act as background noise.
There is a speculation that this technology is used to develop space and produce food on alien planets, and that it can also be used in space to synthesize human food using light energy and nuclear energy so that astronauts will not starve to death.
As for the prospect of this technology on Earth, it can blind your eyes.
According to reports, Tianjin scientists have invented a device that produces the same amount of starch as 5 acres of corn in the range of one cubic meter. If we don't consider other factors, as long as we lay out the project and build a 10 million cubic meter synthesis plant, the amount of starch produced by it is equivalent to the amount of corn starch in the whole of Henan.
Ordinary fermentation tanks, 20 tons of a lot, that is not equal to 100 acres of land, day and night non-stop production of starch, that efficiency pig according to the conversion rate of three catties of fine grain and one catty of meat, equivalent to a night fattening 200 four hundred catties of pigs.
As long as this technology is mastered, crops will not be so important in the future, and the problem of arable land will be alleviated immediately; Looking at the world, a major grain exporter is about to suffer, and the grain shortage has completely become a prehistoric tragedy. According to this trend, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry will certainly not be enough, and the Nobel Peace Prize will have to go to these scientists permanently.
A test bench in the studio
Of course, all these prospects must be based on how to reduce costs.
The cost of synthetic starch is 300,000 US dollars a catty, and the cost needs to be reduced by 600,000 times to reach the ex-factory price of corn starch. This question has also been raised by scientists in Tianjin, who have solved the most critical 0 to 1; The rest is the relatively easy question of 1 to 10.
Personally, I think that they still have to come, and it may not be possible to change people.
In addition, in the next 50 to 500 or 5,000 years, I believe that more people, like me, can only pin their hopes of starvation on traditional food crops.
Traditional crops
I am very familiar with these traditional crops, not to mention having worked in the field since I was a child, and I have worked abroad for a few years, and my favorite TV (Asia 2 satellite) program to watch, CCTV Channel 9's Daily Agricultural Classic. The agricultural program hosted by Wang Lixin told the story and introduced the skills behind the food crops. The interjection is irrelevant, and the other column is the two sides of the Taiwan Strait hosted by Li Hong, and I will enjoy it with international students from Taiwan Province whenever I have the opportunity.
Good program on the Military Agriculture Channel
In China alone, rice, millet, millet, soybeans, buckwheat, supplemented by chestnuts, cabbage, lychees, dates, longan native fruits and vegetables, and grapes, alfalfa, cucumbers, garlic, carrots, broad beans, lettuce introduced in the Han Dynasty, Champa rice introduced in the Song Dynasty, corn, artichoke, pumpkin, watermelon, peanuts, sunflowers, peppers, tomatoes, bananas, plantain taro, sweet potatoes, and hybrid rice, hybrid corn, hybrid wheat, and seawater rice developed by modern Chinese agricultural scientists, these at least I think since ancient times. The rice bowl that is really in the hands of the Chinese themselves today is, and in the foreseeable future, it will still be.
On top of food crops, humans and domestic animals develop symbiotic relationships, even pet relationships. There are six kinds of domestic animals fed by humans: horses, cattle, sheep, chickens, dogs, pigs, and in a broad sense, ducks and geese. Pigs, dogs, and chickens are omnivores, like humans, and are particularly prone to intimate relationships with humans. Humans make full use of animals to improve their own survival while helping them survive, from which they gain auxiliary power and sufficient animal protein nutrition. So, as a traditional person, I also have an aversion to artificial meat.
Artificial meat: the advantage is that it does not stuff the teeth; Cons: Expensive
There are some special varieties of traditional crops, extremely high quality, royal tribute level, geographical indication product certification, these things are worth continuing to develop, there is a lot of space, and the price can be lowered so that more people can eat, and it is "better to meet the needs of the people for life". As scientists, this should not be overlooked. Even if the scientist's foresight is focused on space, alien planets, and the earth for thousands or tens of thousands of years, after geological time, it seems a bit inappropriate to devote the only fifty or sixty years of healthy work life left by the scientist concerned to the cause that will be needed in the distant future.
Traditional crops can be salvaged at this moment of existential crisis: through various breeding methods, there is a lot of potential to be tapped, so that they will not be quickly eliminated, as scientists say.
For example, aerospace breeding, the artificial introduction of genetic mutation and re-screening methods has achieved particularly good results, which is impressive.
In the field of biological high-tech, there are many advances that are not known to the public, and the popularization of science has been lagging behind.
Some people cheer with others, but in fact they may not really understand, but it does not affect the praise of the results.
There are many more people who simply don't understand, from the terminology to the content, from the project proposal to the deep meaning, they don't know anything. I'm personally somewhere in between.
In the fifties and sixties of the last century, Chinese scientists synthesized crystalline bovine insulin, opening up the first technology from chemical molecules to functional proteins, which was written into primary and secondary school textbooks. In the 90s of the last century, the insulin used by diabetics was not this one, and the source was not artificial synthesis (too expensive), but from genetic recombination technology and cell culture.
It can be seen that even the first high-tech still needs to keep pace with the times and meet the urgent needs of the people's lives.
In addition, traditional culture, including farming culture, traditional crops, should not always threaten these animals and plants from time to time, saying that there are new technologies to replace them.
For example, replacing pigs, cows, sheep, and donkeys with artificial meat. Farmers will be unhappy.
As for replacing all crops with synthetic starch, not only will the farmers in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei be unhappy, but it may even cause tension in international relations and affect the interests of Russia, Ukraine, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Spain, France and other major grain producing countries, which is not conducive to South-South cooperation and is very unfriendly to the BRICS countries.
Fortunately, the cost is high now, otherwise this unfavorable situation could easily arise.
This article is original and first published in Toutiao, plagiarism must be investigated.
The material comes from CCTV news and Internet platforms.