My mind immediately (before I’d read the article) went to the idea of coming across empty terraformed planets that a forerunner race had seeded with engineered microbes but never used.

That’s not in the piece. But a lot of great space applications of biotech are, including making fuel (as in The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet).

Originally shared by Singularity Hub

Microbes in Space: Bioengineered Bugs Could Help Colonize New Planets https://suhub.co/2LDnDLM