AI Summary
The article discusses how a graduate student, forced out of the lab during a pandemic, discovered that the key biofuel-producing microalga, Botryoccocus braunii, believed to be a single species, is actually three different species. This finding has implications for research into biofuel production and may lead to a better understanding of the diversity and potential applications of these microalgae.
When a global pandemic forced previous a graduate student out of the lab and onto the computer, he found a world of difference hidden in the long-studied species of Botryoccocus braunii — and discovered that it isn’t one species at all, but three.