Bacteria Used To Fix Cracked Concrete 177
An anonymous reader writes "Researchers at the UK's University of Newcastle have created a new type of bacteria that generates glue to hold together cracks in concrete structures — that means everything from concrete sidewalks to buildings that have been damaged by earthquakes. When the cells have been germinated, they burrow deep into the concrete until they reach the bottom. At this point, the concrete repair process is activated, and the cells split into three types that produce calcium carbonate crystals, act as reinforcing fibers, and produce glue which acts as a binding agent to fill concrete gaps."
Okay. (Score:4, Interesting)
I think it's officially "the future".
Re:Okay. (Score:3, Interesting)
Call me when they can pour this Bacterial pudding into a bullet wound and have it heal up...that's the future I'm waiting for. Then I can finally start my crime-fighting vigilante spree.
Re:How do they know where 'the bottom' is? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Lungs (Score:3, Interesting)
So the assumption, as I read it, is the environment in which the bacteria is deployed is assumed to have a consistent pH level to help it identify that it is in fact, concrete. However anything that also has that pH could potentially be a hospitiable environment.
Question: How are they planning on accounting for a non-lab environment where everything from moisture, temperature, hell even lighting apparently, can influence the pH of the target location? Based on respitory infection the pH in a lung is hardly consistent in that scenario and as many have jested, the side walk could have a cold. The point is if they are pinning the identification based on the pH I fail to see this as viable in uses outside of a controlled lab. Bridge work going on in Nov with snow and sleet I fail to see a consistent pH for this to work on any credible level. Just more theortical lab work that will get a bit of grant money and that is about it. With construction workers dealing with a lot of concrete dust during repairs the pH is one hurdle for the bacteria. As for phsyical contaminates, respitory contaminates could be lunch for this stuff. I doubt there is a lethal risk, but having to throw someone on sick leave because they have a mild infection of this stuff is more economic risk then anything. pH to me seems a tad bit flaky as a marker for concrete. Even from what the article mentions, it requires too much of a controleld environment to be usseful. The number of things that could have similar pH seems rather high, the non-concrete contaminates... potential predators\competitors... It might work great in a lab... but in the real world? I'm doubtful.
Re:"decommoditization" of concrete? (Score:2, Interesting)
All it will take is some enterprising megacorp with the legal muscle to patent this combo (and defend the patents) and you can effectively raised margin on concrete 10x at least.
Depends on whether they can get it into building codes or not. If they can't, then the concrete would comparable in cost (else you're not going to get it into the building).
Re:Okay. (Score:3, Interesting)
Now, where're my sexy android catgirls?
Re:Gigacrete looks better (Score:1, Interesting)
Picking nits and getting offtopic, but he was giving another example where green was in fact a fib. Does that look like the implication that green is a fib in and of itself? Doesn't to me.
Re:Okay. (Score:3, Interesting)
The only real problem I can see is in an environment like the SoCal desert, where the soil pH is extremely high, and also very high in calcium salts. Seems to me you'd have to do a test-run to make sure you didn't get a runaway effect in such soils, for applications where cracks in the concrete extend all the way through. Either that, or maybe precede the treatment with an acid wash. I'm sure some such control mechanism can be developed.
(When we tested the soil on my place, the pH was so high that the tester thought her equipment was broken.)
Re:Read teh article. (Score:3, Interesting)
The spores germinate only in very alkaline environments...
So what's the limit? The well at my NV place has a pH of eight and the water at my townhouse a pH of nine. Will the city's water system and/or my residential well be plugged with bacterial pseudo-cement, strong as the real stuff? (Note that the well casing has a cement wall - just ideal for them to treat the boundary between it and the dirt as a crack and follow it down.)
Lots of alkaline soil out there (like around my townhouse). Before adding soil amendments it was mostly clay - hard but still workable with a tiller. Will these bugs turn it to concrete requiring a jackhammer?
I could go on...
Re:Okay. (Score:3, Interesting)