Buildings that eat carbon dioxide? Fish bacteria that light the streets? Meet the architects rebuilding our future

From Eureka, our new science and environment magazine

Imagine the cityscape of the future. Forget skyscrapers studded with undimmed lights. Instead, think of crystal whites and luminous blues forging the city’s silhouette. Picture a city that sucks in carbon and uses bacteria harvested from dead fish to light the darkness. The city as a living character will no longer be a literary conceit, but a reality. From metaphor to concrete in one generation.

One of her projects starts with a simple premise. Leave a fish rotting in a bowl of water for long enough and it will begin to glow. The light comes from bacteria in the fish. In certain species, such as the flashlight fish and the anglerfish, a symbiotic relationship with this bacteria, Vibrio phosphoreum, allows the fish to glow and flicker in the deep ocean. The flashlight fish carries the bacteria in pouches beneath its eyes, which it opens to show off the glimmering organisms or closes to hide them, depending on whether it wishes to lure in prey or evade predators. But how have scientists leapt from flashes of light in the sea to a new vision for our cities? Welcome to the world of nanoarchitecture.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/eureka/article6861966.ece

Buildings that eat carbon dioxide? Fish bacteria that light the streets? Meet the architects rebuilding our future

Buildings that eat carbon dioxide? Fish bacteria that light the streets? Meet the architects rebuilding our future

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