Related papers: Interactions of Fungi with Concrete: Significant I…
Concrete is susceptible to cracking owing to drying shrinkage, freeze-thaw cycles, delayed ettringite formation, reinforcement corrosion, creep and fatigue, etc. Since maintenance and inspection of concrete infrastructure require onerous…
Fungi live within diverse environments and survive well under extreme conditions that are usually beyond the tolerance of most other organisms. In different environments fungi are known to induce precipitation of a wide range of minerals.…
As one of the primary consumers of environmental resource, the building industry faces unprecedented challenges in needing to reduce the environmental impact of current consumption practices. This applies to both the construction of the…
Bio-cementation uses bacterially induced calcite to bind sand grains, offering a low-carbon approach to soil stabilization. However, the 3D morphology, orientation texture, and internal strain states of individual calcite bonds remain…
Fungal construction materials -- substrates colonised by mycelium -- are getting increased recognition as viable ecologically friendly alternatives to conventional building materials. A functionality of the constructions made from fungal…
The evolutionary success of bacteria lies in their ability to form complex surface-associated communities in diverse biophysical settings. However, it remains poorly understood how compliance of soft surfaces, measured in terms of their…
A time-dependent modeling framework for autogenous self-healing concrete that couples moisture diffusion with damage evolution was developed. Water transport follows Fick's second law with a damage-dependent diffusivity obtained by…
Microbial-Induced Carbonate Precipitation (MICP) is an innovative ground improvement technique which can enhance the strength and stiffness of soils, and can also control their hydraulic conductivity. These engineering properties of…
Microorganisms hosted in abiotic structures have led to engineered living materials that can grow, sense and adapt in ways that mimic biological systems. Although porous structures should favor colonization by microorganisms, they have not…
Microbes and pathogens play a detrimental role in healing wounds, causing infections like impetigo through bodily fluids and skin and entering the bloodstream through the wounds, thereby hindering the healing process and tissue…
Enhancement of thermal performance of concrete wall is nowadays of great importance in reducing the operational energy demand of buildings. We developed a new kind of inorganic coating material based on \ce{SiO2}-\ce{Al2O3}-rich minerals…
The white-rot fungus, Physisporinus vitreus, degrades the membranes of bordered pits in tracheids and consequently increases the permeability of wood, which is a process that can be used by the wood industry to improve the uptake of wood…
Long-term creep (i.e., deformation under sustained load) is a significant material response that needs to be accounted for in concrete structural design. However, the nature and origin of creep remains poorly understood, and controversial.…
Biological living materials, such as animal bones and plant stems, are able to self-heal, regenerate, adapt and make decisions under environmental pressures. Despite recent successful efforts to imbue synthetic materials with some of these…
Surface-adhesion and stiffness of underlying substrates mediate geometry, mechanics and self-organization of bacterial colonies. Recent studies have qualitatively indicted that stiffness may impact bacterial attachment, yet the variation of…
The present work investigates environmental effects on the growth of fungal colonies of P. vitreus by using a lattice-free discrete modelling approach called FGM (Fuhr et al. (2010), arXiv:1101.1747), in which hyphae and nutrients are…
Bacteria build multicellular communities termed biofilms, which are often encased in a self-secreted extracellular matrix that gives the community mechanical strength and protection against harsh chemicals. How bacteria assemble distinct…
A fundamental step in the race to design a rapid diagnostic test for antimicrobial resistance is the separation of bacteria from their matrix. Many recent studies have been focused on the development of systems capable of separating and…
Calcium oxalate crystals are the most common biominerals found in plants. They also make their presence known as painful kidney stones in humans and animals. Their function in plants is extraordinarily versatile and encompasses calcium…
Many biological materials must couple mechanical strength with the ability to rapidly self-assemble at a specific location. In particular, biomolecular condensates readily self-assemble via phase separation, but may also need to resist…