Do you know that historic Romans gargled urine so as to get whiter tooth?1 Whilst other folks don’t gargle urine anymore, thank goodness, it is going to quickly seem in other folks’s mouths once more.
How? Thru “pee-cycling.”
Ecologically minded scientists are running on a brand new use for human urine: remodeling it into hydroxyapatite, a calcium phosphate mineral projected to carry a marketplace price of greater than $3.5 billion via 2030, in step with UC Irvine Information.2
Urine recycling may revolutionize enamel teeth restore
The human waste may quickly be contributing to more potent enamel teeth and bones for implants, because of the crew of eleven scientists from California, Illinois, and Japan. Eliminating urine from wastewater could also be an environmentally pleasant transfer, because it is helping lower air pollution and the accumulation of undesirable vitamins within the water.
Scientists have identified for some time that vitamins akin to nitrogen and phosphorus may also be recovered from urine. However the low financial price of those merchandise restricted large-scale adoption, in step with the find out about printed in Nature Communications.3
So the scientists grew to become their attractions to greater concepts—genetically enhancing yeast to take the weather found in urine to create hydroxyapatite, calling it “osteoyeast.” This procedure will cut back the price of hydroxyapatite manufacturing and make the bone regenerating materials extra obtainable for various causes, together with to be used via dental execs.
Tooth are some distance from the one beneficiaries the scientists envision from their pee-cycling. Different makes use of might come with archaeological recovery, biodegradable possible choices to plastic, and construction fabrics for building tasks.4
Pee-cycling hydroxyapatite: A sustainable resolution for dentistry and past
One of the vital coauthors, David Kisailus, UC Irvine professor of fabrics science and engineering, stated, “This procedure to yield hydroxyapatite, or bone mineral, takes lower than sooner or later. The truth that it makes use of yeast as a chassis, which is affordable and may also be positioned in vast vats at moderately low temperatures … presentations that this may also be finished simply with out main infrastructural wishes, and that has the additional advantage of constructing it obtainable to growing economies.”
Whilst we wait the following few years to peer this new type of hydroxyapatite grow to be truth, we won’t be capable of take into accounts our urine the similar once more.
Learn the find out about, Value-effective urine recycling enabled via an artificial osteoyeast platform for manufacturing of hydroxyapatite.
Obtain the ebook, All about hydroxyapatite with Anne O. Rice
References
1. Kumar M. From gunpowder to tooth whitener: the science in the back of historical makes use of for urine. Smithsonian mag. August 20, 2013. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/from-gunpowder-to-teeth-whitener-the-science-behind-historic-uses-of-urine-442390/
2. Researchers create system for changing urine into excessive price bio implant materials. IC Irvine Information. June 17, 2025. https://information.uci.edu/2025/06/17/researchers-create-method-for-converting-urine-into-high-value-bio-implant-material/
3. Muller IE, Lin AYW, Otani Y, et al. Value-effective urine recycling enabled via an artificial osteoyeast platform for manufacturing of hydroxyapatite. Nature. Might 6, 2025. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-59416-8
4. Turner B. Scientists rework pee into materials match for scientific implants. Reside Science. July 4, 2025. https://www.livescience.com/well being/scientists-transform-pee-into-material-fit-for-medical-implants
