Photo: theindianrepublic.com
This truly is what you’d call an electrified rose, but it’s not thanks to its abilities to nurture love and happiness. This is a rose that could revolutionize how we see fuel cells, and it’s based on controlling and interfacing with chemical pathways.
A never-seen-before scientific breakthrough conducted by a team of scientists in Sweden could change the way humans look at plants. Researchers at Linkoping University have created analog and digital electronic circuits inside living flowers. Led by Professor Magnus Berggren, the team has been working at the Laboratory of Organic Electronics for quite a while now, looking for a way to demonstrate wires, digital logic, and even display elements that can be fabricated inside the plants.
It may seem like a bad Science Fiction book, but the applications of the matter appear to be rather groundbreaking. According to the article published in Science Magazine, controlling and interfering with chemical pathways in plants could pave the way to photosynthesis-based fuel cells, sensors and growth regulators, and devices that modulate the internal functions of plants.
Apparently, many attempts have been made to augment plant function with electroactive materials, but plants’ “circuitry” has never been directly merged with electronics, making this a world's first.
“We report analog and digital organic electronic circuits and devices manufactured in living plants. The four key components of a circuit have been achieved using the xylem, leaves, veins, and signals of the plant as the template and integral part of the circuit elements and functions. With integrated and distributed electronics in plants, one can envisage a range of applications including precision recording and regulation of physiology, energy harvesting from photosynthesis, and alternatives to genetic modification for plant optimization.”
Imagine a future where Toyota Prius cars covered in roses drive on the street. Even though some women may think it’s a flower shop delivery car, it may as well be the new generation of alternative charging systems powering the vehicle they see.
A never-seen-before scientific breakthrough conducted by a team of scientists in Sweden could change the way humans look at plants. Researchers at Linkoping University have created analog and digital electronic circuits inside living flowers. Led by Professor Magnus Berggren, the team has been working at the Laboratory of Organic Electronics for quite a while now, looking for a way to demonstrate wires, digital logic, and even display elements that can be fabricated inside the plants.
It may seem like a bad Science Fiction book, but the applications of the matter appear to be rather groundbreaking. According to the article published in Science Magazine, controlling and interfering with chemical pathways in plants could pave the way to photosynthesis-based fuel cells, sensors and growth regulators, and devices that modulate the internal functions of plants.
Apparently, many attempts have been made to augment plant function with electroactive materials, but plants’ “circuitry” has never been directly merged with electronics, making this a world's first.
“We report analog and digital organic electronic circuits and devices manufactured in living plants. The four key components of a circuit have been achieved using the xylem, leaves, veins, and signals of the plant as the template and integral part of the circuit elements and functions. With integrated and distributed electronics in plants, one can envisage a range of applications including precision recording and regulation of physiology, energy harvesting from photosynthesis, and alternatives to genetic modification for plant optimization.”
Imagine a future where Toyota Prius cars covered in roses drive on the street. Even though some women may think it’s a flower shop delivery car, it may as well be the new generation of alternative charging systems powering the vehicle they see.
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