You know the joke about the car and the snail. Look at that escargot? Well, snails may be the only thing not powering the automobiles of the future. Trees, grass, algae, even the garbage you toss on the sidewalk has potential for conversion into biofuel. What is America’s next top model fuel? Join us on a tour of the contenders. Meet a man who’s mad about miscanthus … an astrobiologist’s attraction to algae… and the blueprint for building your own biofuel bugs. Also, discover whether any of these next-generation fuel sources could take us to the stars. Put that in your rocket and burn it! Guests: •  Madhu Khanna – Professor of Agriculture and Environmental Economics at the University of Illinois and at the Energy Biosciences Institute •  Stephen Long – Professor of Crop Sciences and Plant Biology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign •  Michelle Chang – Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the University of California at Berkeley •  Bret Stroegn – Graduate student researcher, Energy Bioscience Institute, University of California at Berkeley •  Jonathan Trent – Bioengineering Research Scientist at the NASA Ames Research Center and founder of Global Research into Energy and the Enviornment (GREEN ) •  Richard Obousy – Physicist and co-founder and project leader for Project Icarus Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices