Dutch scientists have developed a self-healing bio-concrete

For most of human history, industry has been seen as the antithesis of nature, and that’s been true for the most part. Now that we’ve entered what’s essentially a golden age of research and science, however, industry and nature are becoming integrated in a way that we’ve never seen before. For example, some Dutch scientists have found a way to develop self-repairing concrete that’s able to essentially “heal” itself thanks to a special kind of bacteria. 

It’s the world’s most popular building material, and ever since the Romans built the pantheon from it some 2,000 years ago, we’ve been trying to find ways to make concrete more durable. No matter how carefully it is mixed or reinforced, all concrete eventually cracks, and under some conditions, those cracks can lead to collapse. “The problem with cracks in concrete is leakage,” explains professor Henk Jonkers, of Delft University of Technology, in the Netherlands. “If you have cracks, water comes through — in your basements, in a parking garage. Secondly, if this water gets to the steel reinforcements — in concrete we have all these steel rebars — if they corrode, the structure collapses.” But Jonkers has come up with an entirely new way of giving concrete a longer life. “We have invented bioconcrete — that’s concrete that heals itself using bacteria,” he says. The bioconcrete is mixed just like regular concrete, but with an extra ingredient — the “healing agent.” It remains intact during mixing, only dissolving and becoming active if the concrete cracks and water gets in.