Scientists create plants that glow, might one day replace some electrical lighting.
MIT engineers have been able to induce plants to give off a dim light for nearly four hours. They believe that, with further optimization, such plants will one day be bright enough to illuminate an entire work space.
The book and the light-emitting watercress plants were placed in front of a reflective paper to increase the influence from the light emitting plants to the book pages. Image credit Seon-Yeong Kwak
Michael Strano, the Carbon P. Dubbs Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT and the senior author of the study, explains:
“The vision is to make a plant that will function as a desk lamp — a lamp that you don’t have to plug in. The light is ultimately powered by the energy metabolism of the plant itself.”
The technology could also be used to provide low-intensity indoor lighting, or to transform trees into self-powered streetlights.
source MIT News
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