I collaborate with bacteria. And I'm about to show you some stop-motion footage that I made recently where you'll see bacteria accumulating minerals from their environment over the period of an hour.
Ja sarađujem sa bakterijama. Sada ću vam pokazati jednu stop-motion animaciju koju sam nedavno napravio gde ćete videti kako bakterije prikupljaju minerale iz svoje okoline kroz period od jednog časa.
So what you're seeing here is the bacteria metabolizing, and as they do so they create an electrical charge. And this attracts metals from their local environment. And these metals accumulate as minerals on the surface of the bacteria.
Ono što vidite ovde su bakterije kako vrše metabolizam i dok to rade stvaraju elektronski naboj. I ovo privlači metale iz njihove okoline. Ovi metali se akumuliraju kao minerali na površini ovih bakterija.
One of the most pervasive problems in the world today for people is inadequate access to clean drinking water. And the desalination process is one where we take out salts. We can use it for drinking and agriculture. Removing the salts from water -- particularly seawater -- through reverse osmosis is a critical technique for countries who do not have access to clean drinking water around the globe.
Jedan od najrasprostranjenijih problema za ljude, danas u svetu je neodgovarajući pristup čistoj, pitkoj vodi. I proces desalinizacije je onaj u kome vadimo soli. Možemo ga koristiti za piće i za poljoprivredu. Vađenje soli iz vode -- posebno morske vode -- kroz proces obrnute osmoze je važna tehnika za zemlje koje nemaju pristup čistoj vodi za piće širom sveta.
So seawater reverse osmosis is a membrane-filtration technology. We take the water from the sea and we apply pressure. And this pressure forces the seawater through a membrane. This takes energy, producing clean water. But we're also left with a concentrated salt solution, or brine.
Znači, obrnuta osmoza morske vode je tehnologija filtriranja kroz membrane. Uzimamo vodu iz mora i vršimo pritisak. I ovaj pritisak tera vodu kroz membranu. Ovome treba energija, da bi se proizvela čista voda. Ali nam takođe ostaju rastvori zasićeni solima ili rasol.
But the process is very expensive and it's cost-prohibitive for many countries around the globe. And also, the brine that's produced is oftentimes just pumped back out into the sea. And this is detrimental to the local ecology of the sea area that it's pumped back out into.
Ali proces je veoma skup i zemlje širom planete ne mogu da ga priušte. Takođe, taj rasol koji se proizvede se često samo pumpa cevima, nazad u more. I ovo je štetno za lokalnu ekologiju morske okoline u koju se pušta taj rasol.
So I work in Singapore at the moment, and this is a place that's really a leading place for desalination technology. And Singapore proposes by 2060 to produce [900] million liters per day of desalinated water. But this will produce an equally massive amount of desalination brine. And this is where my collaboration with bacteria comes into play.
Ja radim u Singapuru trenutno, i ovo je mesto koje je stvarno vodeće u polju desalinizacionih tehnologija. Singapur predlaže da do 2060. proizvede 900 miliona litara na dan desalinizovane vode. Ali ovaj proces će proizvesti jednako mnogo desalinizacionog rasola. I ovde stupa na scenu moja saradnja sa bakterijama.
So what we're doing at the moment is we're accumulating metals like calcium, potassium and magnesium from out of desalination brine. And this, in terms of magnesium and the amount of water that I just mentioned, equates to a $4.5 billion mining industry for Singapore -- a place that doesn't have any natural resources.
Trenutno radimo na vađenju metala, kao što su kalcijum, kalijum i magnezijum iz desalinizacionog rasola. I ovo, u slučaju magnezijuma i količine vode koju sam sad spomenuo, iznosi oko 4.5 milijardi dolara industrije rudarstva za Singapur -- mesto koje nema prirodne resurse.
So I'd like you to image a mining industry in a way that one hasn't existed before; imagine a mining industry that doesn't mean defiling the Earth; imagine bacteria helping us do this by accumulating and precipitating and sedimenting minerals out of desalination brine. And what you can see here is the beginning of an industry in a test tube, a mining industry that is in harmony with nature.
Želim da zamislite industriju rudarstva na način koji nije postojao pre; zamislite industriju rudarstva koje ne znači skrnavljenje Zemlje; zamislite kako nam bakterija pomaže da ovo postignemo tako što akumulira i ubrzava taloženje minerala od desalinizacionog rasola. I ono što ovde možete da primetite je početak industrije u jednoj epruveti, industrije rudarstva koja je u harmoniji sa prirodom.
Thank you.
Hvala.
(Applause)
(Aplauz)