approach

Logistical difficulties, time constraints and physical exhaustion forced the researchers to quickly adapt their approach.

As a proof-of-concept approach, the team pasted hydrogels with varying amounts of silver onto 800-year-old pieces of wood from the Nanhai One shipwreck, which was discovered off China's south coast.

"This could even provide a novel approach to drug screening, for instance, by measuring fluid flow changes and forces caused by bacterial movement before and after administering antibiotics," Alijani suggests.

"This strong quantitative and qualitative evidence highlights the effectiveness of our approach," said Lingyu Zhang, the lead author and a first-year PhD student in Chen's lab.

Business and Trade Secretary Douglas Alexander responded to the debated in the House of Commons by saying he was concerned, the government was reviewing the Modern Slavery Act and would “approach the company in question to try to establish more clearly the exact facts that underlie those deeply worrying reports”.