If you happened to be walking around the labs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology recently, you’d be forgiven for thinking that a terrible nuclear spill had occurred, rows of plants illuminated with a very unnatural glow.
The actual reason: those crazy MIT geniuses have created plants that can light up for hours at a time.
Scientists infused watercress, spinach, and kale with an enzyme named luciferase. Luciferase is what makes fireflies glow, when mixed with a molecular named luciferin. They saturated the now-modified plant with a solution containing more luciferase and the aforementioned luciferin. The mixture sunk in via the plants pores, the molecules interacted – and there was light!
“The vision is to make a plant that will function as a desk lamp — a lamp that you don’t have to plug in,” Michael Strano from MIT — who co-authored the study — wrote in a statement.
“The light is ultimately powered by the energy metabolism of the plant itself.”
So far they have been able to make a plant glow for three-and-a-half hours. Aside from the novelty factor, there are many practical uses. Strano hopes this technology will one day replace streetlights.
“Plants can self-repair, they have their own energy and they are already adapted to the outdoor environment,” Mr Strano said. “We think this is an idea whose time has come.”
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