Astronaut urine, breath could help make food, tools in space
NASA-funded researchers are working on turning human waste including breath into nutrients and plastic for Earth-independent, long-distance space travel. The project is focused on using urine to feed a type of yeast, which can be genetically modified to make nutrients and even plastics for 3D printing tools. Notably, urine is already recycled aboard the ISS for drinking water for astronauts.