Scientists Find Microbes That Eat Garbage, Excrete Crude Oil Tuesday, June 17, 2008 "Ten years ago I could never have imagined I'd be doing this," says Greg Pal, 33, a former software executive, as he squints into the late afternoon Californian sun. "I mean, this is essentially agriculture, right? But the people I talk to — especially the ones coming out of business school — this is the one hot area everyone wants to get into." He means bugs. To be more precise: the genetic alteration of bugs — very, very small bacteria — so that when they feed on...