Shelter is a basic human need, but we often overlook the means we use to obtain that need. The construction industry is accountable for “40% of global carbon dioxide emissions,” according to bioMason, a company that has a very unique way to cut back on those emissions.

The biotech start-up company has come up with a way to ‘grow’ bricks from naturally abundant materials like bacteria. A winner of the Cradle to Cradle Innovation Challenge, their method of employing these microorganisms is stated that “Bacteria, which provide a precise environment to form in combination with a nutrient, nitrogen and calcium source allow for the formation of natural cement in ambient temperatures, taking less than five days to produce a pre-cast material.”

The beauty of this technology is that instead of building materials being created in super-heated environments like kilns, where carbon emissions are heavily released, they’re grown in ambient temperatures. bioMason has developed a business model that would license their methods to existing masonry manufacturers.

The post Biotech Company Grows Its Own Bricks With Bacteria first appeared on Gajitz.

In 2009, a company called Organovo came up with what, at the time, sounded like an insane goal: they wanted to make machines that could print human organs. The printed organs could then be used as ransplants so that patients would no longer have to wait for donors. Their amazing dream of creating human organs with machines has finally come true – in a way. The company announced that they have successfully created three miniature bioprinted human livers.

The livers, of course, are not ready to be stuck into a person just yet. These little organs are a mere four millimeters across and just half a millimeter deep, but they can be used for testing in a way that no artificial liver ever has. They perform most of the functions of biologically-produced livers and can stay alive and viable for up to five days. In contrast, the liver tissues currently used for testing and research only stay alive for about two days and can’t perform nearly as many functions.

These tiny livers are a huge step forward in research. Now diseases can be intentionally introduced to the liver cells and medications administered in real time. Researchers can actually see what would happen to a real liver were these types of events to take place inside a human body. Organovo isn’t giving up on their ultimate goal just yet, though: they still hope to create full-size livers that can be transplanted into humans who need them.

The post World’s First Functional 3D Printed Livers Created in Lab first appeared on Gajitz.

Let’s get personal for a moment – how much attention do you pay to your poo? It might surprise you to know that your bowel movements can actually say a lot about your health. A group of scientists and designers wants to make it even easier for you to gauge your health just by looking at your solid waste with a product called E. chromi.

Users would have only to drink a special beverage laced with an engineered strain of E. coli – don’t worry, it’s perfectly safe. When the bacteria makes its way through through the gut, it turns poo into a color that identifies what type of digestive system malady the user is suffering from. Rotavirus, worms, salmonella, colorectal cancer, colitis and stomach ulcers are all represented by different colors. But a normal brown result means that all is well in your bowels.

The bioengineered bacteria could be useful not only for identifying the gnarly diseases making your gut feel gross – it could also be used in other industries in the future. The engineered bacteria could make for chemical-free food dyes in the future as well as eco-friendly textile dyes and simple water safety tests.

The post Bio-Engineered Bacteria Colors Poo, Translates Your Health first appeared on Gajitz.

We thought it was odd (but awesome) when video games started incorporating physical fitness, but a team of physicists at Stanford University have taken video game innovations to a whole new level of weird. Ingmar Riedel-Kruse and his crew have developed video games that use real live paramecia as playable characters.

Games like Pong, Pac-Man and pinball are recast with itty-bitty creatures that are controlled with electric polarity or chemical repellents. The paramecia are held in a chamber on which a camera is trained. The player looks at a screen – where a virtual game board is overlaid on the actual enclosure – and manipulates the tiny characters.

But of course, because the paramecia games were developed by physicists, there is an educational element overarching the fun. Riedel-Kruse believes that the games will help educate people about the basics of biomedicine and biotechnology. The team behind the games hopes that other scientists will develop similar crowd-friendly activities that will introduce laypeople to different areas of science in a fun (but sneakily educational) way.

The post Pac-Mecium and Pond Pong: Playing Games With Protozoa first appeared on Gajitz.