Sometimes the little things make a big difference.
Today we’re talking about putting some very little organisms to work to filter out pollution in the world around us.
This is a project led by researchers at universities in Austria and Slovenia.
According to Interesting Engineering, they’ve been developing a set of living surfaces that go on the sides of buildings.
The team envisions a kind of biological inkjet printer that can spray microbiomes that include bacteria and fungi onto exterior walls of buildings.
They’re supposed to work on all kinds of surfaces, from wood to concrete to metal, you name it.
Once in place, these living surfaces can filter pollutants and capture carbon from the air.
That can do a lot of good anywhere, but especially in cities where there isn’t always a lot of open land to turn into green space for the environment’s sake.
And these bio-layers could be as good for the buildings as they are for the world around them: the surfaces could help protect those exterior walls from weathering.
They might even be able to repair small cracks in the facades that on their own might turn into bigger cracks and more significant damage.
The researchers are taking this concept and turning it into a workable system, and there are a lot of steps involved.
They’ll need to make sure that their inkjet printer can spray the right microorganisms onto the right surfaces in the right way, without harming anything.
They’ll also need to make sure that the applications cover the surfaces effectively and will actually survive in the local environment.
All that will take work, but they say they’re very motivated to do that work.
They say that in Europe alone, there will be billions of square meters of wall space for new and renovated buildings over the next few decades.
And the sooner they can cover those surfaces with eco-friendly microbiomes, the better it is for the planet, the buildings and the people who use them.
Starting this Friday in Indiana, it’s the Strawberry Festival in downtown Kokomo.
There’s lots of live entertainment, games, art and activities, but the main draw here is the strawberry shortcake, which comes with both ice cream AND whipped cream.
Or at least it’s served that way until they run out.
Living tattoos for buildings could turn city walls into pollution-fighting surfaces (Interesting Engineering)
Strawberry Festival in downtown Kokomo!
