Biological Bricks

A house built with living concrete sounds impossible to most persons. However engineers have been able to create living concrete made from photosynthetic cyanobacteria called synechococcus. This could one day reduce the environmental impact of the construction industry. The team of researchers including Wil Srubar combined the bacteria with gelatin, sand and nutrients in a liquid mixture, then place it in a mould. Heat and sunlight is then applied resulting in the bacteria producing calcium carbonate crystals around the sand particles. This process is similar to how seashells are formed on the seashore. The advantage of biological bricks is that if the bacteria isn't dehydrated entirely, they continue to grow. 

This process has the potential to be done in Medical Laboratories to create medical real estate using energy intensive concrete that is more environmentally friendly because of its reliance on photosynthesis. Concrete is the second most consumed material on earth after water. Using biotechnology and bacteria that grow exponentially, the construction industry can theoretically move from linear manufacturing to exponential manufacturing.