X Prize Foundation Seeks Oil Spill Cleanup Ideas

The X Prize Foundation, known for the $10 million prize given to the first private space plane, says it plans to announce the purse, rules and benefactor for a multimillion-dollar oil spill challenge on Thursday in Washington, reports the Associated Press. A foundation official said last month that the group had already received 35,000 unsolicited ideas for fixing the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The competition is designed to inspire entrepreneurs, engineers and scientists worldwide to develop rapidly deployable, and highly efficient ways to capture crude oil from the ocean surface.