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Very interesting! I was curious how this related to Roman self-healing concrete: https://news.mit.edu/2023/roman-concrete-durability-lime-casts-0106 https://ne
by ericskiff 2y ago
Very interesting!
I was curious how this related to Roman self-healing concrete: https://news.mit.edu/2023/roman-concrete-durability-lime-casts-0106 https://news.mit.edu/2023/roman-concrete-durability-lime-cas...
and it seems like this is an entirely novel method, where little capsules of bacteria break open when a crack appears and then "heal" the crack through growth until they consume their food stock.
Both the capsule (alginate-based) and bacteria are common and safe
- willmadden 2y agoIt's the same idea, but instead of calcium carbonate leaking out of quicklime in Roman concrete, it's done by bacteria. The questions are if the bacteria will survive 50-100 years or more in the real world, and if this can be done economically at scale. My guess is no, it's more of a science experiment or something to be used in niche applications.