Bacteria Can Build Nanowires

Roland Piquepaille writes "Researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) have discovered that under certain conditions, some very common bacteria can form nanowires. These bacteria were able to produce nanowires as small as 10 nanometers in diameter, but which can reach hundreds of microns in length. What is interesting here is that these nanowires are electrically conductive ones. This means that bacteria could be used to build microbial fuel cells or bacteria-powered batteries. As one researcher said, 'Earth appears to be hard-wired.'"

Comments

Genetic algorithms' hardware analogue?

[Anonymous Coward]

I imagine with machines built by bacteria it would be possible to create a situation where the ideal harware design is evolved - similar to how genetic programming techniques today evolve software solutions. Maybe we'd even learn something new and exciting about hardware design.

Re:Mutation danger

[Tx]

Considering how rapidly bacteria tend to evolve...

I'm no microbiologist, but I suspect that statement is a bit simplistic. Some bacteria are very well known for their ability to resist and repair damage to their DNA, even under very harsh conditions. I guess choosing the right bacteria would be kind of important.