>> medoff: zero. >> stahl: so, no degree in chemistry? >> medoff: oh, of course not. didn't have any degree in chemistry. >> stahl: what's your i.q.? >> medoff: i have no idea about i.q.s. ( laughs ) >> stahl: medoff has been called a genius. 25 years ago, he became obsessed with the environment, and decided to abandon his business career and become an amateur scientist. but while engineers, geologists and ecologists with ph.ds went to labs at m.i.t. and stanford, medoff went to one of the country's most legendary settings for reflection. >> medoff: i used to run out to walden, which wasn't that far away. >> stahl: you mean walden pond? thoreau? >> medoff: yeah, yeah. >> stahl: okay. >> medoff: what i thought was, the reason people were failing is, they were trying to overcome nature instead of working with it. >> stahl: he knew that there's a lot of energy in plant life. it's in the form of sugar molecules that, once accessed, can be converted into transportation fuel. the key word is "access." this sugar is nearly impossible to extract cheaply and cleanly, since it