to make it a real, make the concept of road worthy reality. msnbc environment and science expert jeff corwin is here. kind tests are looking at all kinds of possibilities to fuel the nation s vehicles. why is algae now such a top contender? this was an incredible story contes contessa. we travelled to san francisco to a company and they are on the front lines of turning that green, slimy algae into oil. let s take a look. it may look like your ordinary science lab but the workers at solazyme are consumed with one thing, algae. we got a behind the scenes look at their algae production from start to finish. the cofounder, harrison dylan, was our guide. we screen algae to find out which strains make oil and make a lot of oil and make the right kind of oil.
gas prices hit their highest levels in history for the month of february. $3.12 a gallon, that s about 50 cents above last year s average. and it s one reason to maybe get excited about this green slimy stuff. scientists say fuel made from algae is cheaper and cleaner than crude. msnbc s environment and science expert jeff corwin recently checked out a start-up company that s already testing it in cars. reporter: it may look like your ordinary science lab, but the workers here are consumed with only one thing algae. we got a behind-the-scenes look at their algae production from start to finish. company co-founder harrison dillon was our guide. what we do in this room is we screen algae to find out which strains make oil and make a lot of oil and make the right kind of oil. this is our fermentation lab. this is where the action