Bacteria

Spider silk is one of nature’s most impressive materials, exhibiting impressive strength and toughness. Now, researchers at Washington University in St. Louis claim to have created an artificial version that can outperform some natural spider silks.

Scientists at the University of Edinburgh have taken plastic recycling technology into new territory, demonstrating how an engineered form of E. coli bacteria can be used to turn plastic bottles in vanillin, the primary compound of vanilla flavoring.

Extracting and refining copper into a useful form can be energy intensive and requires harsh chemical treatments. But now researchers at the University of Houston have discovered bacteria that naturally convert toxic copper ions into metallic copper.

It's a sad fact that many of the people who most need water filters are those who are least able to afford them. A newly demonstrated MIT technology could help, in that it uses locally sourced wood to inexpensively purify contaminated water.

It can be difficult to separate water from oil, which makes water pollution tricky to clean up. Now, researchers at North Carolina State University have found that a bacterial biofilm membrane can effectively let water through while keeping oil out.

A new "biological" apartment under construction in the UK will provide scientists with a means of exploring health as it relates to surrounding microbes, along with the development of structures that can be built with living materials.

Although ozone is used to disinfect water in settings such as treatment plants, the required equipment is typically too large for use in small appliances like water coolers. A new miniaturized ozone generator, however, may be about to change that.

Scientists investigating more eco-friendly forms of plastic production have made an exciting breakthrough, with the discovery of a bacterial system that generates one of the material's key building blocks through its natural metabolic process.

Evaporation is one of the most enduring methods of purifying water to make it drinkable. Now researchers in China have developed a novel device made of wood that can do just that, by employing bacteria to help build key nanostructures.

Graphene, the highly useful material consisting of a one-atom-thick sheet of linked carbon atoms, has already been shown to keep steel from rusting. Soon, though, it could also be used to stop bacteria from corroding metal pipes.

Bacteria that produce their own electricity could be useful in batteries, but so far, attempts have been inefficient. A new “biohybrid” system is built around a hydrogel and can support the microbes while effectively collecting their energy.

Researchers have incorporated living microbes into 3D printed objects. The resin material is embedded with chemical “instructions” that tell a layer of microbes to fluoresce in particular colors, producing a stunning array of patterns and designs.