Microbe-Made Petroleum

Could scientists use genetically modified bacteria to produce petroleum in a way that would decrease carbon levels in the atmosphere by feeding the bacteria carbon-negative grasses? It's happening — this short documentary examines how.

Interviewee: David Berry, MD, PhD, Principal at Flagship Ventures

2007

About These Documentaries

Upland created 20 short documentaries about topics in science, design, technology, and their intersections.

For each, we started by doing careful research and planning so that we could in most cases do all the interviewing and filming in a single day and edit to final cut within a week.

Most were funded in part by Technology Review and shown on the magazine's website alongside articles on the same topic. We selected topics with its editor-in-chief, but then did the rest of the work completely independently.

A few were funded in part by Children's Hospital Boston and used to raise funds for the hospital's medical research.