Episode Details

Today Dr. Julie Maresca, Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss how bacteria can interact with a ubiquitous part of modern life: concrete!

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Julie Maresca

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• Hartiful, the vendor that makes the enamel pins I often show on the podcast.
• An overview of microbes and the "built environment."
• An article about how concrete is made.
• A video on how concrete is made.
• The concept of "self repairing" concrete.
• An overview of the microbial limits to life with regard to pH.
• A description of alkalinophilic bacteria.
• Biofilms that form on concrete.
• Difficulties in obtaining DNA from rock.
• An overview of oligotrophic microbes.
• The alkali-silica reaction in concrete.
• Challenges of road salt and concrete.
• An overview of halophilic microbes.
• An overview of xerophilic microbes.
• The concept of SLiME communities.
• The term aeonophiles.
• Is "Roman" concrete self-repairing?
• A company that produces "microbial concrete."
• An article relevant to today's discussion by Dr. Maresca and colleagues.
• Dr. Maresca's faculty website.
• Dr. Maresca's wonderful and artistic research website.

Intro music is by Reber Clark

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