Iron microbe: outfitting organisms for extreme environments

As NASA and other space agencies across the world prepare their astronauts to withstand the hazards of space travel and habitation on Mars, tinier adventurers have begun to receive a similar outfitting. For humans to live in extreme environments such as the darkest, coldest, radiation bombarded reaches of space, we must equip useful microorganisms to thrive and survive under similar conditions. This insight has expanded microbial sciences to the materials sciences: blending soft, squishy cells with hard, rocky crystals. And just as billionaire-playboy-philanthropist Tony Stark donned an array of gadgetry to become Iron Man, so too must bacteria and yeast receive the cyborg treatment to augment their functionality for the future of biotechnology.