“Every breath you take, half the oxygen you exhale was produced by micro algae,” say Peter Mooij. He calls them global players, who have been here before all of us and even before the dinosaurs. “And all this time they have been engaging in photosynthesis. In fact, without them, we would not be here. Because alive, they produce oxygen, but dead algae are converted into fossil fuels.”
Mooij loves to talk about his work. Being a young scientist himself, he hopes to inspire other young people to take up a career in science too. It is safe to say, algae is Peter Mooij’s life. His favourite colour is algae green, he lists algae as his pets - millions of them - and, most importantly, he researches algae at the Environmental Biology Department at TU Delft.
In an online profile, Peter Mooij says he has millions of algae as pets. His favorite color is algae green and he believes that understanding algae might just be the answer to everything.
An environmental biotechnology researcher at TU Delft, Mooij has been studying the phenomena of algae for quite a while. In 2013, he wrote about how algae can be ‘interesting candidates for the large-scale production of biodiesel’.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at ted.com/tedx