75 Future Now - Interview with Dr. Jonathan Trent - on Extremophile Lifeforms, his deep NASA research, and the magic of Bioreactors and Fuel Cells in solving Earth Issues

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Listen Now to Dr. Jonathan Trent

Transcript

Interestingly Dr. Trent had his start in oceanography and the study of small water-based lifeforms at UCSC back in the 1970’s as an undergraduate. Later at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and a post doc in Germany at the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry he became one of the world’s experts in how biology was able to adapt to the most extreme conditions on Earth imaginable. He was brought back home to NASA Ames, where he, as an astrobiologist delved deeply into how such life might exist elsewhere in the solar system. NASA did an extensive interview of his career, posted here.

Dr. Jonathan Trent

Now, semi-retired in the Santa Cruz area, he brings home his knowledge of extreme forms of life in creating solutions to some of our biggest issues of today, namely the escalating food, water, and energy crisis. His latest project is called “UpCycle Systems,” and its goal is to create a cohesive green life support system for our growing need of Data Centers, places that are needed for cloud computing, AI, Crypto, memory storage, etc.

In Dr. Trent’s vision, data centers will not simply use massive amounts of water and power, they will generate such resources by turning our organic waste into clean power and water, with excess energy to share. This works through the combination of several innovative technologies, including bioreactors and fuel cells. I think you’ll enjoy hearing Dr. Trent’s story, we sure did! Enjoy..

UpCycle Data Centers that will contribute clean water and energy to the community instead of taking it.