In the wake of the disastrous BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico last summer, an idea was hatched. Wendy Schmidt, wife of Google CEO Eric Schmidt, and Peter Diamandis of the X PRIZE Foundation decided to challenge scientists and engineers around the world to come up with a better way to clean crude oil off an ocean surface. They decided to call it the Wendy Schmidt Oil Cleanup X Challenge.
They received over 350 submissions, and on Tuesday they named their winner: Donnie Wilson, a member of Elastec/American Marine team from Illinois.
Ali Velshi sits down with Donnie Wilson and Peter Diamandis, who explain the winning submission and discuss the future of American ingenuity.
Wednesday marks one year since the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico.
11 workers were killed in the explosion and 200 million gallons of oil were released into the surrounding environment. So, what is the state of the Gulf Coast one year after the devastation began?
American Morning speaks to Doug Inkley, senior scientist for the National Wildlife Federation, about the state of the Gulf Coast one year after the spill.
Dean Blanchard, a 25-year veteran of the seafood business, is the President of Dean Blanchard Seafood Inc. and was hit hard by last year's oil spill.
American Morning spoke with Blanchard in the wake of the oil spill and catches up with Blanchard one year later.