New “living” building materials made from bacteria on fungal scaffolds can survive for at least four weeks in hot, dry conditions, new research finds.
The lab-scale test is a step forward in the quest for materials that can regenerate or heal themselves. “Where we’re trying to make a dent is in using biological processes to potentially make building materials more sustainably,” says Chelsea Heveran, a professor of mechanical and industrial engineering at Montana State Univ. and the senior author of the new study.
Cement, the binding material of concrete, is responsible for about 8% of carbon dioxide emissions annually. One alternative to energy-heavy, high-heat production is biomineralization, or using bacteria or fungi to excrete inorganic materials — not unlike how bone is built and maintained by living cells within its matrix. Already, a few companies such as North Carolina-based Biomason and Colorado-based Prometheus Materials have brought bio-cement and bio-concrete to market.
Heveran and her team have been experimenting with taking the idea of biomineralization one step further: They’d like to keep the microbes that build their materials alive for the long-term. With time, this could lead to materials that can self-regenerate or that have built-in sensing abilities. “What sparks my...
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