Beyond the harnessing of these microscopic spores' mechanical properties, a side-note may also be of interest to our community. As the article says, "The work started nearly a decade ago, when lead author and associate professor Ozgur Sahin participated in a project studying bacterial spores. Sahin was contributing a high-tech microscope his lab had developed, but what he learned about the spores inspired him to turn his focus to them."
This "high-tech microscope" is almost certainly something I interviewed Ozgur Sahin about in 2004, when he was a Stanford University graduate student, and I was reviewing research for a national award, which Ozgur went on to win. What Ozgur presented was a big improvement in atomic force microscopy (AFM), using harmonics in the instrument's vibrating cantilever.
After seeing the video and article today, I looked back at my old notes from those interviews, and was struck by something Ozgur said: "When I read the literature, I see emphasis on optical properties of molecules. But what we realize is that the contrast is much higher in mechanical properties. . . . There is a field called 'optics,' and a field called 'electronics'—there is going to be a field called 'mechanics,' and it's going to get big.”
Calvin Quate, inventor of the AFM, said to me, "I told (Ozgur), 'Keep your eyes open--you’re walking where no one has walked before, and you may see things nobody expects.'"
It appears that Ozgur Sahin has indeed kept his eyes open, and his imagination on high alert, while transitioning from a grad student to a professor with a laboratory and students of his own. Who could have expected a bacterial-spore driven engine? Wow!
The 2004 story of Ozgur and the AFM was (and still is) compelling. At the time, I was permitted to share it only with award judges, to protect any not-yet-patented intellectual property. But eleven years later, this need has evaporated. So for anyone interested, here is Ozgur Sahin's story as written for the judges. I'd like to think it's a decent read.
Meanwhile, here's to keeping our eyes wide open.
Some of us are walking where no one has walked before, and we may see things nobody expects. 
--Chris
--edited typos
--Edited again 03-06-2019 to make links current
