Smart materials, which respond to changes in the environment, are often designed to mimic functions of organisms in nature. Lukas Gerber et al. (pp. 90-94) took this mimicry a step further and created a living material capable of self-cleaning. Inspired by the complex functions of microorganisms living on surfaces such as the skin or certain cheeses, the authors incorporated the fungus Penicillium roque-forti into layers of polymer.
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