Designer bacteria build carbon-silicon materials for the first time

Scientists have genetically engineered bacteria to make a protein that squishes silicon and carbon together long enough for them to stick to one another — forming a bond that, until now, only chemists had managed to create. If scientists can teach these bacteria to produce the carbon-silicon molecules used to make semiconductors, pesticides, and even silicone breast implants, it could make manufacturing these products easier.The chemical factories of the future
Carbon and silicon are reluc