Los Alamos National Laboratory

The photos show wild type algae and magnetic algae placed in a test tube next to a permanent magnet. The wild type (left) settles to the bottom of the tube under the influence of gravity. The genetically transformed algae (right) stick to the wall due to magnetic attractions.

Scientists at a government lab in New Mexico have created what appear to be magnetic algae, a breakthrough that could lower the cost of harvesting biofuels from the microscopic plants.

The trick involved transferring to algae a gene from soil bacteria that align themselves with Earth's magnetic field, explained Pulak Nath at the Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory.

"We expressed that gene in algae and it started making what we think are magnetic particles," he told me Friday. "We still have to confirm that, but we could put a magnet next to those algae and see these algae getting attracted."

Magnetism studies
Scientists have studied the soil-living so-called magnetotacic bacteria since the 1970s, primarily as a model to understand how birds are able to migrate thousands of miles each year.

"The whole idea is that they probably have some sort of compass in their brains," Nath said. As a DOE-funded scientist, he turned to those studies in search of an application to cost efficiently harvest algae for biofuels.

Current techniques for extracting algae from the ponds where they are grown include sound waves and the addition of chemicals that cause the algae to clump together, a process known as flocculation.

These techniques account for about 30 percent of the total cost of algae-based biofuel production, Nath noted, and "is one of the limiting steps for algae fuel from becoming cost competitive to fossil fuels." 

Using magnets
Permanent magnets are inexpensive. In theory, algae biofuel systems could flow algae-filled water through a tank lined with the magnets and the algae will get separated from the water, Nath explained.

"And that won't cost us any money in terms of energy input because we are using these permanent magnets and the energy from these permanent magnets — other than the material — is free," he said.

The research, he cautioned, is in the early stages. So far, they've created one species of magnetic algae. Going forward, they will try to transfer the gene to more candidates for algae biofuel production.

The lab's ultimate goal, Nath said, is to take the technique to the proof-of-concept stage and then have someone else "take this technology and take it forward."

To take the research forward, there is incentive in the government push to derive 36 billion gallons a year from a mix of biofuels by the year 2022. 

Other factors that must be tackled for the efficient scale-up of algae biofuels include ways to reduce their need for massive amounts of water and land. 

More stories on algae biofuels:

• Is algae biofuel too thirsty?
• It's pond scum, but algae could be green fuel
• Algae attracts investors, but obstacles remain
• NASA grows algae for biofuel, treats waste

John Roach is a contributing writer for msnbc.com. To learn more about him, check out his website. For more information about energy in our ongoing Future of Technology series, watch the video below.

Marko Drobnjakovic / AP

David Petrovic, 4, stands in his garden as silverware sticks on his chest in Gornji Milanovac, some 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of Belgrade, Serbia.

After at least two episodes involving supposedly "magnetic" children in the Balkans who can hang spoons and forks from their chests, you'd think we'd wise up. But no. Yet another story about the phenomenon is going viral today: a report from Serbia about two kids with seemingly magnetic powers.

Four-year-old David Petrovic and his cousin, 6-year-old Luka Lukic, showed off the cutlery trick for journalists and doctors, and the doctors confessed that they were flummoxed.

"As far as I know, there is no medical or scientific explanation," The Associated Press quoted radiologist Mihajlo Dodic as saying.

"Nobody can tell us why this is happening," said Luka's father, Slavisa Lukic.

Benjamin Radford could tell them. He's the author or "Scientific Paranormal Investigation: How to Solve Unexplained Mysteries," and he's already explained the "magnetic" powers exhibited by another Serbian boy named Bogdan as well as a Croatian boy named Ivan.

"They just crank 'em out over there, don't they?" Radford said today when told about the latest case.

The explanation is that kids are particularly good at attaching things to their bodies, because you have one smooth, sticky surface (hairless skin, with a slight sheen of sweat) adhering to another smooth surface.

"When you look at the things involved in these cases, they're all smooth," Radford said. "They're glass, they're plates, they're metal. You don't see rough surfaces. You don't see steel wool."

The trick may also involve a slight backward lean, to keep the spoon from falling off the chest or the nose. Or you can set the cutlery along the collar bones, as David is doing in the photo above.

One tip-off that the magnetic claims are bogus: The effect can be done with smooth, non-magnetic items such as plates or glasses. Another tip-off: The trick works only on bare, sticky skin, and it's spoiled if talcum powder is used or the kid puts on a shirt.

The AP story quotes Patrick Regan, a physics professor at the University of Surrey in Britain, as saying "humans are made of the wrong material to be magnetic." Even surgical implants tend to be made out of non-magnetic materials, such as titanium. Otherwise, they'd cause problems for MRI scans.

It is possible to levitate small animals by taking advantage of water's diamagnetic properties, provided you have a super-strong magnet. But that's definitely not what's going on in Serbia. 

20th Century Fox

Ian McKellen played Magneto, a character who could wield magnetic powers, in three "X-Men" movies.

The real question may very well be: Why are parents and the public magnetically attracted to stories like this? There's a special allure to the idea that some humans may well have special powers, whether it's Magneto in the "X-Men" saga or the German in the "Heroes" TV series. Both those characters were known for being able to control materials with magnetism.

Are the kids or the parents bent on perpetrating a hoax? Radford said that's not necessarily the case. "It's easy to overlook the fact that you can fool yourself. ... There are people who sincerely just don't think critically about this," he said. When amazing feats are reported in regions far removed from the global media infrastructure — the Balkan countryside, for instance — it can be easier to just go with the folk tale and dial down the skepticism.

So the tale of Serbia's magnetic boys makes for a good late-summer yarn. But an unexplained scientific mystery? Not so fast.

More 'unexplained' mysteries:

• That's no chupacabra! It's a mangy old fox
• Loch Ness monster-like shape filmed in Alaska
• UFO fans latch onto underwater anomaly
• Cosmic Log's 2012 archive: DON'T PANIC

Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter or adding me to your Google+ circle. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for other worlds.