When a small crack forms in the concrete, the enzyme interacts with CO2 in the air to produce calcium carbonate crystals, which mimic the characteristics of concrete and promptly fill in the crack.

Concrete is second only to water as the most consumed material on Earth—a particularly problematic statistic, given the enormous carbon emissions of its manufacturing process.

Self-Healing Concrete Could Rid Sidewalks Of Cracking By Randy Astaiza Nov 23, 2012, 11:27 AM PT Flickr/M.Markus ...

The Delft University of Technology's Centre for Materials has been working on self-healing materials in various forms since at least 2005, which is when this type of self-healing concrete was ...

The key to this self-healing ability lies in one of its core components: quartz crystals. When exposed to neutron radiation, these crystals undergo a process of micro-expansion and contraction, a ...