Science Magazine July 13, 2007 Vol. 317. no. 5835, p. 186 For 30 years, Michael Trachtenberg, a fast-talking, 66-year-old former neuroscientist, has been working on an enzyme that removes carbon dioxide from various environments. Now, with the coal industry and government finally focusing on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, Trachtenberg is hoping to parlay his expertise and moxie into a commercial success. Improbably, Trachtenberg began his career as an epilepsy researcher, studying the connection between that disorder and the brain's ability to process carbon dioxide with an enzyme called carbonic anhydrase. While working at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, he learned that oil companies pump carbon dioxide into depleted wells to extract more crude. In 1991, Trachtenberg formed a company, Carbozyme, with the goal being to use the enzyme to grab carbon dioxide from coal plant emissions and sell it to oil firms. The venture flopped, but by then he was hooked on CO2. Applying his knowledge in work funded by NASA, Trachtenberg next created a device to maintain CO2 and moisture levels inside an astronaut's space suit that was smaller and cheaper than what the space agency was using at the time.