You might have noticed that some gas stations occasionally offer specials on unleaded 88 octane gas—also known as E15—which contains 15 percent ethanol. Ethanol is an alcohol that’s derived from corn.

Ian Sherr (he/him/his) grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, so he's always had a connection to the tech world. As an editor at large at CNET, he wrote about Apple, Microsoft, VR, video games and ...