Lesson plan

BioFields

BioFields is a Mexican industrial group that produces biofuels from blue-green algae (cyanobacteria). The company was founded in 2006, it has a commercial agreement with Algenol Biofuels the company that owns the technology to Direct Ethanol, which allows the production of blue-green algae based biofuels. BioFields got the first license to use such technology in Mexico, specifically in Puerto Libertad, in Pitiquito, Sonora, because the conditions of the place are ideal for the development of this technology (approximately 328 days of sunshine a year), it also has a nearby source of carbon dioxide from the exhaust of a large power plant, it is close to the sea and has great extent of dry, non-arable land. BioFields’ technology Direct to Ethanol uses non-toxic blue-green algae to produce biofuels in a fully enclosed secure system. This technology optimizes the metabolism of blue-green algae creating a new pathway for the use and fixation of carbon resulting in the synthesis of ethanol. The blue-green algae proliferates rapidly and uses efficiently sunlight, carbon dioxide and inorganic elements, for the production of ethanol or other biofuels.…

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Article summary

BioFields is a Mexican industrial group that produces biofuels from blue-green algae (cyanobacteria). The company was founded in 2006, it has a commercial agreement with Algenol Biofuels the company that owns the technology to Direct Ethanol, which allows the production of blue-green algae based biofuels. BioFields got the first license to use such technology in Mexico, specifically in Puerto Libertad, in Pitiquito, Sonora, because the conditions of the place are ideal for the development of this technology (approximately 328 days of sunshine a year), it also has a nearby source of carbon dioxide from the exhaust of a large power plant, it is close to the sea and has great extent of dry, non-arable land. BioFields’ technology Direct to Ethanol uses non-toxic blue-green algae to produce biofuels in a fully enclosed secure system. This technology optimizes the metabolism of blue-green algae creating a new pathway for the use and fixation of carbon resulting in the synthesis of ethanol. The blue-green algae proliferates rapidly and uses efficiently sunlight, carbon dioxide and inorganic elements, for the production of ethanol or other biofuels.…

Key claims

  1. date of foundation: 2006 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95

Discussion questions

  1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
  2. The record states that the date of foundation is "2006". What evidence would count against this claim?
  3. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
  4. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

Bibliography

  1. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1359344348

Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.