🧠 A laser that makes human tissues, Mars could have been habitable sooner than anyone thought, CO2-eating algae strain

INTERESTING ENGINEERING SHOP

Dr. Hao Liu from ETH Zurich is engineering microscopic structures with laser technology that mimic the natural architecture of human tissues.

These structures, made from a special gelatin type, serve as scaffolds for growing cells. By carefully controlling the laser, Liu can create microfilaments that replicate the structures found in tissues like muscles, tendons, and nerves.

They created a compact bioprinter to develop biological tissues with microfilament structures. Dive deeper into this Must-Read.

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MUST-READ

🧠 Lab-made muscle: New laser tech grows real human tissues to replace lab rats

Human tissues have organized cellular arrangements. Using a bioprinter, researchers from ETH Zurich made 3D scaffolds that serve as a template for growing cells, resulting in perfectly structured tissue.

Utilizing light-sensitive gelatin that solidifies into a hydrogel when exposed to a laser, the team made microfilaments inside this hydrogel that mimic tissue fibers. That serves as a scaffold upon which they cultivate cells.

Engineered tissues can be used for surgical replacements, medical research, and food production, as well as tissue and nerve repair and drug testing.

🚀 Scientists find Mars was habitable 3.9 billion years ago, much sooner than thought

Mars is currently cold and dry because the red planet lost its magnetic field. Space, as a field, has been searching for signs that it once held the conditions to support life.

New research suggests that Mars’ magnetic field might have lasted some million years longer than previously thought, giving the planet even more time to have housed life, even microbes.

“We are trying to answer primary, important questions about how everything got to be like it is, even why the entire solar system is the way that it is,” researchers say.

🌊 Scientists find CO2-eating algae strain, could help in ocean decarbonization 

The ocean generates 50% of the oxygen we need, absorbs 25% of all carbon dioxide emissions, and captures 90% of the heat these emissions give off. The ocean might be our greatest ally against climate change.

To that aim, an international team of researchers found a new strain of cyanobacteria, or algae, in volcanic ocean vents. As it grows rapidly around CO2, it’s an excellent candidate for carbon sequestration projections and the bioproduction of valuable commodities.

This new stand could help environmental efforts to reduce excess carbon dioxide.

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