21st-century seaweed

Abstract

Don’t let the weed in seaweed fool you: the plant’s usefulness as a crop dates back centuries. People in China, Japan, and South Korea have cultivated and harvested seaweed for food and other uses for hundreds of years. Seaweed derivatives have been used in textile ink for almost 1,000 years. During Ireland’s potato famine, people supplemented their diets with a type of seaweed known as red algae. Today, seaweed is a multibillion-dollar industry. Given its natural origins and ease of cultivation, some people see the potential for uses in brand-new markets. Consumers, after all, are demanding ever more bioderived products. Seaweed is a kind of algae. It’s known as macroalgae to distinguish it from microalgae, which include smaller organisms such as the cyanobacteria that can cause toxic blooms in ponds and oceans. Macroalgae can be classified as red, brown, or green, and they come in an array of shapes, including