Broward Palm Beach Blog

Photo: ClydeElliott

FAU research aims to stave off dystopian future full of American amphibians

​Florida Atlantic researchers are racing against melting polar ice caps and dwindling natural resources in hope of developing energy technology that exploits the vast powers of the ocean tides.

Sue Skemp, executive director at Florida Atlantic University's Center for Ocean Energy Technology, tells CNN:

"If you can take an engine and put it on the back of a boat or propel a ship through water, why not take a look at the strength of the Gulf Stream and determine if that can actually turn a device and create energy?"

To at least one potential Republican presidential candidate, that seems like a good question for citizens in the next century. Newt Gingrich echoes a refrain by Florida Republicans, for whom the first priority is to suck every last energy-giving fossil fuel from the Earth, including those off Florida's coast.

By then, surely evolution God will have seen fit to bless us with webbed feet and gills, a la Kevin Costner in Waterworld.