There are a lot of reasons to love algae, from their potential to provide sustainable food and environmentally friendly products, to their ability to remediate environmental damage on both large and small scales. Let’s take a look at a few unexpected ones!
- Algae thrive on sloths! Sloth hairs have a unique structure that create the perfect environment for algae and fungi to thrive.
- Algae could pave humanity’s way into space by providing fuel, food and oxygen needed for interplanetary travel.
- Researchers are developing new algae inks that can lock in carbon for over 100 years.
- Without algae, life on Earth may not even exist. It produces up to 50% of the oxygen on the planet.
- Seaweed and algae are such rich sources of vitamins that several diseases associated with vitamin deficiency (asthma, tooth decay, etc.) could be eradicated simply by adding algae powder to food.
- One versatile algae-based material can be used for dyes, buttons, and as a sterilizer.
- Burnt seaweed produces alkalis, key ingredients in the manufacture of soap
- Algae are a storehouse of essential nutrients required by all crops, including potash, ionic sulphate, and trace elements, along with every other element and radical required by plants.
- Seaweed fertilizer can increase disease resistance while improving the soil, allowing it to hold water and air simultaneously.
- Seaweed can be mixed with cement to reduce the weight of buildings and increase insulating power.
- Seaweed can be used to manufacture some types of paper
- Some algae are actually cultivated in garden ponds for their attractive appearance
- Many types of blue green algae can fix atmospheric nitrogen in soil, as much as 2,900 pounds of nitrogen per acre per year. Nitrogen is a particularly challenging nutrient to replenish.
- Since algae provides complete proteins yet doesn’t require large amounts of water, it could be used to supply fresh food for large ships, future space stations, and on long interplanetary missions.
- In Japan 155,000 acres are devoted to the cultivation of a species of algae, producing 5500 tons of dry weight annually, which fetches more money than any other marine products including whales, fish etc.
- With improved techniques for mass culturing of algae, a solution to the problem of food deficiency could be within reach.
- Algae is found on every continent and can grow virtually anywhere, including in ice and snow. There are over 700 species of algae in Antarctica.
- Some algae produce compounds which, when released into the atmosphere, promote the formation of clouds.
- Lichen are actually symbiotic partnerships between a fungus and alga and are found across the globe.
- Seaweed is already a big part of your life - it’s used in toothpaste, shampoo, shaving cream and hand lotions.
- Some algae are used in wound care tissue engineering, helping repair or replace damaged human tissue and organs.
- Algae produce up to 50 percent of the net global oxygen available to humans and other terrestrial animals for breathing
- As the foundation of the marine food chain, the existence of nearly all marine life—including whales, seals, fishes, turtles, shrimps, lobsters, clams, octopuses, sea stars, and worms—ultimately depends upon algae.
