When I think of an amateur biologist, I imagine a bird watcher. Or perhaps someone investigating a stream or counting fish. What I don't think of is people tinkering with life in their garages. And yet some folks are doing just that.

The AP ran a story the other day about people working with DNA in their garages (or apartments). For example, a woman in San Francisco is trying to engineer yogurt bacteria that will glow green in the presence of melamine. This is the chemical that was found in baby formula and pet food from China.

The idea would be that you (or some governmental agency) could check your yogurt with a UV light before you ate it. If it glowed green, then the yogurt was contaminated with melamine.

These glowing bacteria could help a lot of people avoid melamine poisoning (as long as people could get past the fact that they'd be eating a GMO!). But do we really want people doing this kind of biology at home?

Of course this sort of thing would be very difficult to stop. People can go to science fair project sites and get all the information they need to jury rig a lot of the equipment to do these kinds of experiments. They can also search the web or take a class at their local community college and learn most everything they need to know.

In fact, the technology to do this kind of stuff is so straightforward that we do something similar here at The Tech. We let visitors put a gene in bacteria that causes the bacteria to glow green only in the presence of a special sugar called arabinose.

So unless we put up massive resources to shut down these labs (a "War on Amateur Labs"), people are going to be able to do this stuff if they want to. To me, the two big questions are:

• Will anything useful come out of these labs?
• Will something dangerous be released onto an unsuspecting public?

Odds are that nothing too useful will come out of these labs. Sure the melamine bacterium could be useful (it is actually very similar to the outlawed glowing goldfish designed to detect pollutants in the water). But it would be very hard to bring to market. Two potential problems are getting people to eat a GMO and proving to the FDA that it is safe.

One good thing that might come out of this sort of thing is to make biology more accessible and maybe more exciting too. People might think of and do projects for fun that, as a necessary part of accomplishing their goal, will increase their understanding of molecular biology. In other words, they might be more willing to learn this stuff for something fun they thought of.

I can imagine some dangers too. What if someone decides to come up with an anthrax vaccine and makes a dangerous bug that gets loose? Or who knows what else?

There probably isn't a big risk in something like this happening but biology is different than coming up with a new computer program or light bulb in your garage. Biology uses live things that can make copies of themselves and spread pretty far pretty quickly. Traditional labs have controls in place to keep these sorts of things from happening. These unregulated labs may or may not be that careful.

A group in Boston that promotes do-it-yourself biology:

http://diybio.org/

How to make some molecular biology lab equipment at home http://www.scq.ubc.ca/the-macgyver-project-genomic-dna-extraction-and-gel-electrophoresis-experiments-using-everyday-materials/

Senior Radio Editor Andrea Kissack also contributed to this post.

When we started working on this project, we thought it would be easy to find people to interview: D.I.Y.ers with a passion for sustainable building who were testing out new technologies in their backyards. We called consultants, local suppliers, green-minded architects, and collected as many leads as we could. We found a handful of great subjects, but we never quite tapped into that centralized hub we'd envisioned. And that, it turned out, was the point. When you're a D.I.Y.er, you tend to D things Y.

Which is what's so appealing about these projects. Green innovators like those we meet in the radio piece and slideshow are working on their own initiative, spending much more time and money than they would with more conventional technologies, and running a high risk of failure. Ultimately, though, we'll all learn from their mistakes.

Wind Turbine

Chris Beaudoin fits one type of these backyard innovators: He's a long-time environmentalist willing to spend some extra cash trying out something new. San Francisco's Department of the Environment put Beaudoin in touch with Blue Green Pacific, a local company that will ultimately have two turbines up and running on Beaudoin's garage. So far there are only about five "micro-wind" projects like this in the city, about half of them operational. But stay tuned. Gavin Newsom is encouraging homeowners to experiment with wind turbines, and the state of California is already offering rebates on home turbines.

Dixon Beatty and Stephanie Parrot, who live in West Oakland, fall at the other end of the spectrum, what I'd call extreme do-it-yourselfers (though I'm sure they'll disagree). They've spent years remodeling a beautiful old Victorian in West Oakland that they still call a work-in-progress, despite well-functioning solar thermal and photovoltaic systems that keep the house warm and lit with almost no help from PG&E.

Dixon Beatty

When Lisa and Michael Rubenstein wanted to build their green dream home in Hillsborough they thought they would derive the majority of their energy from photovoltaic rooftop solar panels. PV Panels, afterall, have been the energy technology of choice for eco-friendly buildings. But as the Rubensteins waded further into construction, their architect suggested a geothermal heating cooling system. They were told geothermal can provide the most energy efficient, environmentally friendly home and so, they decided to go for it. Together, with PV solar and solar thermal panels, the Rubenstein's monthly energy bill is only eight dollars. Not bad for a 6,000 sq. foot home. It was an expensive project but what they have created is an experimental, contemporary home that gives living green a whole new aesthetic.
Lisa and Michael Rubenstein

Also merging modern design with eco-practical, is Sunset Magazine's idea house for 2007. PIX Located in San Francisco's Mission District, Casa Verde is Sunset's first idea house to be focused in an urban setting, The model home features solar and wind power, a green roof and a sleek, eco-friendly aesthetic.

Listen to the"Beyond Solar: Do It Yourself Home Energy radio report online, and watch our Web Extra: Generating Energy Right at Home slideshow.

Do-it-yourself tabletop biosphere..Last season, QUEST TV went on a field trip to the Maker Faire to see some of the wacky do-it-yourself things coming out of people’s garage work shops. This season, we took Quest Radio Editor Andrea Kissack out to the Make Magazine Test Lab to tinker and experiment with some of our favorite DIY science projects.

We started with a Table-Top Biosphere, or as MAKE called it, a "Tabletop Shrimp Support Module" or TSSM. The whole idea is to create an entirely self-sustaining aquatic ecosystem within a completely sealed jam jar. If you do it right, your freshwater shrimp "aquanaut" will be able to survive for months without your ever needing to feed it or even open the jar. The ecological balance you create supplies all the air, filtering and food for all the creatures within the jar to survive in perfect harmony. If only the real world was this easy.

Watch the "MAKE it at Home: Table-Top Biosphere" TV Story online, as well as find additional links and resources.

Here are the instructions to make your own table-top biosphere.

Chris Bauer is a Segment Producer for television on QUEST.