Nanotube-Excreting Bacteria Allow Mass Production

Invisible Pink Unicorn writes "Engineers at the University of California, Riverside have found semiconducting nanotubes produced by living bacteria — a discovery that could help in the creation of a new generation of nanoelectronic devices. This is the first time nanotubes have been shown to be produced by biological rather than chemical means. In a process that is not yet fully understood, the bacterium secretes polysacarides that seem to produce the template for the arsenic-sulfide nanotubes. These nanotubes behave as metals with electrical and photoconductive properties useful in nanoelectronics. The article abstract is available from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences."

Comments

Re:If they sh*t it, they eat it...

[hyades1]

This phenomenon is well-known, and has frequently been described in scientific literature under the term "Politicojournalistivorism".

Arsenic sulfide?

[perbert]

It is just me, or is there irony in the fact that the nanopoop is AsS?