Long before we run out of the cheapest shale oils that are now fueling the current American oil boom, and long before bio-engineers convince bacteria to excrete oil, hydrocarbon engineers will perfect cheap coal-to-liquids. (For a measured technical exploration of all this, see the National Academy of Sciences report.) The latter will unleash another boom.

FORBES: The International Energy Agency Catches Up With America's Oil Producers

The bio-tech company Monsanto can sell genetically modified seeds before safety tests on them are completed, the US Supreme Court has ruled.

BBC: Monsanto GM seed ban is overturned by US Supreme Court

Long before become the Secretary of Energy, Chu pioneered an equally radical research platform at Stanford University called Bio-X, which brings novel interdisciplinary strategies to bear on important challenges in bioscience.

FORBES: Steven Chu's Gamble on Green Energy