This winter, you can carve the fresh powder of the backcountry on a pair of high-performance skis made from a material produced by microscopic algae. The skis, made by Bay Area biotech company Checkerspot, are a new addition to the long list of products currently being made from chemicals and compounds produced by specially engineered microbes – a field known as biomanufacturing. Driven to offer smarter, more sustainable materials, fuels, foods, and medicines, more and more companies are turning to biomanufacturing over traditional methods.