Potential uses

Only uses that the authors of a published paper explicitly proposed, quoted closely from the paper's abstract. These are proposals, not demonstrated products. If no paper proposes a use, we list none.

Acoustic levitation and acoustic tweezers

Acoustic tractor beams or containerless transportation of particles.
Proposed by Marzo et al., 2015, Holographic acoustic elements for manipulation of levitated objects. doi:10.1038/ncomms9661

AI materials discovery and self-driving labs (GNoME, A-Lab, robot chemist)

Screening the newly predicted stable materials for uses such as layered materials and solid electrolytes.
Proposed by Merchant et al., 2023, Scaling deep learning for materials discovery. doi:10.1038/s41586-023-06735-9
Deploying mobile robot researchers in conventional labs for problems beyond photocatalysis.
Proposed by Burger et al., 2020, A mobile robotic chemist. doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2442-2

AI-discovered antibiotics (halicin, abaucin)

Deep learning to expand the antibiotic arsenal with structurally distinct molecules.
Proposed by Stokes et al., 2020, A Deep Learning Approach to Antibiotic Discovery. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2020.01.021

Artificial molecular machines

Chiral alkene motors as basic components for light-driven molecular machinery.
Proposed by Koumura et al., 1999, Light-driven monodirectional molecular rotor. doi:10.1038/43646

Base editing and prime editing

Adenine base editing to advance the study and treatment of genetic diseases.
Proposed by Gaudelli et al., 2017, Programmable base editing of A•T to G•C in genomic DNA without DNA cleavage. doi:10.1038/nature24644
Prime editing could in principle correct up to 89% of known disease-associated genetic variants.
Proposed by Anzalone et al., 2019, Search-and-replace genome editing without double-strand breaks or donor DNA. doi:10.1038/s41586-019-1711-4

Biosonar-inspired sonar and robots

Biosonar insights applied to sonar, biomedical ultrasound, non-destructive testing, autonomous-system sensors and wireless communication.
Proposed by Müller & Kuc, 2007, Biosonar-inspired technology: goals, challenges and insights. doi:10.1088/1748-3182/2/4/s04

CRISPR gene editing in human patients

A one-time base-editing treatment to lower LDL cholesterol and treat atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.
Proposed by Musunuru et al., 2021, In vivo CRISPR base editing of PCSK9 durably lowers cholesterol in primates. doi:10.1038/s41586-021-03534-y
Prime editing of blood stem cells as a treatment for p47phox-deficient chronic granulomatous disease.
Proposed by Gori et al., 2026, Prime Editing for p47 phox -Deficient Chronic Granulomatous Disease. doi:10.1056/nejmoa2509807

Cryptobiosis: animals and plants that revive

Permafrost as a potential source of ancient plant germplasm and a lab for studying rates of microevolution.
Proposed by Yashina et al., 2012, Regeneration of whole fertile plants from 30,000-y-old fruit tissue buried in Siberian permafrost. doi:10.1073/pnas.1118386109

Deinococcus radiodurans

Bioremediation of mixed radioactive waste containing mercury.
Proposed by Brim et al., 2000, Engineering Deinococcus radiodurans for metal remediation in radioactive mixed waste environments. doi:10.1038/71986

DNA nanorobots and walkers

New nanorobot designs with different selectivities and active payloads for cell-targeting tasks.
Proposed by Douglas et al., 2012, A Logic-Gated Nanorobot for Targeted Transport of Molecular Payloads. doi:10.1126/science.1214081
More complex molecular robot behaviour, such as collective behaviour or algorithmic computation on DNA origami.
Proposed by Lund et al., 2010, Molecular robots guided by prescriptive landscapes. doi:10.1038/nature09012

Electric eel

Eel-inspired soft hydrogel power sources for implants like pacemakers, sensors or prosthetics.
Proposed by Schroeder et al., 2017, An electric-eel-inspired soft power source from stacked hydrogels. doi:10.1038/nature24670

Electricity storage (supercapacitors, sodium-ion, solid-state, flow batteries)

Sodium-ion batteries as next-generation alternatives to lithium-ion for large-format storage.
Proposed by Hwang et al., 2017, Sodium-ion batteries: present and future. doi:10.1039/C6CS00776G

Engineered living building materials

A platform for building materials with sensing, responsive and regenerative functions.
Proposed by Heveran et al., 2020, Biomineralization and Successive Regeneration of Engineered Living Building Materials. doi:10.1016/j.matt.2019.11.016

Enhanced rock weathering

Large-scale carbon dioxide removal by applying crushed rock to croplands.
Proposed by Beerling et al., 2020, Potential for large-scale CO2 removal via enhanced rock weathering with croplands. doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2448-9

Growing life in Mars and Moon conditions

Cyanobacteria fed by Martian regolith and atmosphere as the base of biological life-support systems.
Proposed by Verseux et al., 2021, A Low-Pressure, N2/CO2 Atmosphere Is Suitable for Cyanobacterium-Based Life-Support Systems on Mars. doi:10.3389/fmicb.2021.611798

Heavy-metal biosorption

Biosorption processes for detoxifying metal-bearing industrial effluents.
Proposed by Volesky & Holan, 1995, Biosorption of Heavy Metals. doi:10.1021/bp00033a001

Insects that convert waste (black soldier flies, mealworms)

Simple engineered systems using black soldier fly larvae to reduce organic waste in low- and middle-income countries.
Proposed by Diener et al., 2009, Conversion of organic material by black soldier fly larvae: establishing optimal feeding rates. doi:10.1177/0734242X09103838

Liver and digit-tip regeneration in mammals

Nail stem cells could contribute to new treatments for amputees.
Proposed by Takeo et al., 2013, Wnt activation in nail epithelium couples nail growth to digit regeneration. doi:10.1038/nature12214

Lizard tail regeneration

Targeting the activated developmental and wound-response pathways for regenerative therapies.
Proposed by Hutchins et al., 2014, Transcriptomic Analysis of Tail Regeneration in the Lizard Anolis carolinensis Reveals Activation of Conserved Vertebrate Developmental and Repair Mechanisms. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0105004

Mars terraforming feasibility studies

Making widespread regions of the Martian surface habitable to photosynthetic life using silica aerogel layers.
Proposed by Wordsworth et al., 2019, Enabling Martian habitability with silica aerogel via the solid-state greenhouse effect. doi:10.1038/s41550-019-0813-0

MOXIE: making oxygen on Mars

A scaled-up MOXIE producing the tens of tons of oxygen needed for a rocket to carry astronauts off Mars.
Proposed by Hoffman et al., 2022, Mars Oxygen ISRU Experiment (MOXIE)—Preparing for human Mars exploration. doi:10.1126/sciadv.abp8636

Naked mole-rat

Harnessing fructose-driven metabolism to minimise oxygen-deprivation damage in human disease.
Proposed by Park et al., 2017, Fructose-driven glycolysis supports anoxia resistance in the naked mole-rat. doi:10.1126/science.aab3896

Nanopore sequencing

Direct, high-speed sequencing of single DNA or RNA molecules.
Proposed by Kasianowicz et al., 1996, Characterization of individual polynucleotide molecules using a membrane channel. doi:10.1073/pnas.93.24.13770

Oil (petroleum)

Alternative approaches, using microbial conversion of oil to methane, to recover heavy oil that would otherwise stay in the ground.
Proposed by Head et al., 2003, Biological activity in the deep subsurface and the origin of heavy oil. doi:10.1038/nature02134

Organoid intelligence and DishBrain

Integrating neurons into digital systems for performance infeasible with silicon alone.
Proposed by Kagan et al., 2022, In vitro neurons learn and exhibit sentience when embodied in a simulated game-world. doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2022.09.001
Biocomputing with brain organoids via organoid-computer interfaces.
Proposed by Smirnova et al., 2023, Organoid intelligence (OI): the new frontier in biocomputing and intelligence-in-a-dish. doi:10.3389/fsci.2023.1017235

Piezoelectric and triboelectric energy harvesting

Powering pacemakers, with or without battery assist, from heart, lung and diaphragm motion.
Proposed by Dagdeviren et al., 2014, Conformal piezoelectric energy harvesting and storage from motions of the heart, lung, and diaphragm. doi:10.1073/pnas.1317233111
Converting mechanical, vibrational or hydraulic energy into electricity to power nanodevices.
Proposed by Wang & Song, 2006, Piezoelectric Nanogenerators Based on Zinc Oxide Nanowire Arrays. doi:10.1126/science.1124005

Planarian memory and bioelectric patterning

Implications for stem-cell-derived treatments of degenerative brain disorders.
Proposed by Shomrat & Levin, 2013, An automated training paradigm reveals long-term memory in planaria and its persistence through head regeneration. doi:10.1242/jeb.087809

Plant nanobionics (sensor plants)

Living plants as infrared communication platforms that report chemicals in groundwater to a smartphone.
Proposed by Wong et al., 2016, Nitroaromatic detection and infrared communication from wild-type plants using plant nanobionics. doi:10.1038/nmat4771

Scaly-foot snail (iron-plated armor)

Design principles for improved load-bearing and protective engineering materials, for civilian and defense uses.
Proposed by Yao et al., 2010, Protection mechanisms of the iron-plated armor of a deep-sea hydrothermal vent gastropod. doi:10.1073/pnas.0912988107

Slime mold problem solving (Physarum)

A Physarum-inspired mathematical model to guide network construction in other domains.
Proposed by Tero et al., 2010, Rules for Biologically Inspired Adaptive Network Design. doi:10.1126/science.1177894

Spiny mouse skin regeneration

Using Acomys to identify mechanisms that promote regeneration instead of scarring.
Proposed by Seifert et al., 2012, Skin shedding and tissue regeneration in African spiny mice (Acomys). doi:10.1038/nature11499

Steam and thermal power (geothermal, concentrated solar)

Heat localization for solar-driven phase-change applications such as steam generation.
Proposed by Ghasemi et al., 2014, Solar steam generation by heat localization. doi:10.1038/ncomms5449

Swarm decision-making (bees and ants)

The "ant system" as an approach to combinatorial optimisation such as the travelling salesman problem.
Proposed by Dorigo et al., 1996, Ant system: optimization by a colony of cooperating agents. doi:10.1109/3477.484436

Thermus aquaticus and Taq polymerase

Using a thermostable polymerase for DNA amplification (PCR) and detecting rare target DNA.
Proposed by Saiki et al., 1988, Primer-directed enzymatic amplification of DNA with a thermostable DNA polymerase. doi:10.1126/science.239.4839.487
More extremophile enzymes for chemical, food and pharmaceutical processes.
Proposed by van den Burg, 2003, Extremophiles as a source for novel enzymes. doi:10.1016/S1369-5274(03)00060-2

Trees for contaminated and radioactive sites (poplar, forest irrigation)

Using poplars for in situ remediation of TCE.
Proposed by Newman et al., 1997, Uptake and Biotransformation of Trichloroethylene by Hybrid Poplars. doi:10.1021/es960564w

Ultraviolet (UV-C, far-UVC 222 nm, vitamin D)

Far-UVC lighting in occupied public places to inactivate airborne viruses.
Proposed by Buonanno et al., 2020, Far-UVC light (222 nm) efficiently and safely inactivates airborne human coronaviruses. doi:10.1038/s41598-020-67211-2

Wind power

Wind power could provide as much as half of global electricity needs if the grand research challenges are addressed.
Proposed by Veers et al., 2019, Grand challenges in the science of wind energy. doi:10.1126/science.aau2027

Cerium (element)

Nanoceria as a direct therapy for diseases involving reactive-oxygen-induced cell death, such as macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa.
Proposed by Chen et al., 2006, Rare earth nanoparticles prevent retinal degeneration induced by intracellular peroxides. doi:10.1038/nnano.2006.91

Gallium (element)

Gallium as a potential new therapeutic for Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections.
Proposed by Kaneko et al., 2007, The transition metal gallium disrupts Pseudomonas aeruginosa iron metabolism and has antimicrobial and antibiofilm activity. doi:10.1172/jci30783

Lanthanum (element)

Biotechnologies for detecting, sequestering and separating lanthanides.
Proposed by Cotruvo et al., 2018, Lanmodulin: A Highly Selective Lanthanide-Binding Protein from a Lanthanide-Utilizing Bacterium. doi:10.1021/jacs.8b09842

Silicon (element)

An environmentally friendly, highly efficient route to producing enantiopure organosilicon molecules.
Proposed by Kan et al., 2016, Directed evolution of cytochrome c for carbon–silicon bond formation: Bringing silicon to life. doi:10.1126/science.aah6219

Yttrium (element)

Lanthanide-doped nanocrystals for applications ranging from luminescent biological labels to volumetric three-dimensional displays.
Proposed by Wang et al., 2010, Simultaneous phase and size control of upconversion nanocrystals through lanthanide doping. doi:10.1038/nature08777