Home » Featured » Researchers Created Glowing Plants to Substitute Streetlights

Researchers Created Glowing Plants to Substitute Streetlights

With the advent of renewable energy resources, the use of traditional ones is lessening. Scientists have devised a new creative way of lightening roads with glowing trees instead of the old-style street lights.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)—Scientists have made such plants that glow when nanoparticles are implanted into their leaves. The researchers are of the belief that this finding could take over the traditional light sources.

Also Read: Researchers Made Ultrasound Needle For Internal Surgical Images

Presently, the research is in early stages and the results too obtained were on a plant that functioned like a desk lamp, but the researchers believe that in future complete glowing trees could be grown and doing that could even replace the streetlights, along with low-intensity indoor lightning and the workspace illumination.

Michael Strano—Senior Author said that the light would eventually be powered up by the energy metabolism of the glowing plant itself.

Scientists have incorporated the use of luciferase for giving plants the glowing ability. Luciferase provides fireflies with their glow. As per the reports of Independent, the nanoparticles and the larger particles both were made with the luciferin and coenzyme A which generates the needed effect when united with the luciferase.

As per the study published by these researchers in the journal Nano Letters, the plants were inserted into a solution of these particles and then were exposed to high pressures, this resulted in making these plants to glow for nearly four hours and provided enough light for reading a book.

Strano expressed that the aim is to do the treatment when the plant is a seedling or a fully-grown and then that treatment would remain for the lifetime of the plant. This work would open ways for replacing the streetlamps and to provide indirect light around homes.

Strano believes that his work would be successful in future, he tested the entire procedure on some salad leaves.

According to Daily Mail in future, the researchers plan to spray the particles or paint them on the larger plants to convert them to light sources.

Plants produce their own energy, could self-repair and are already present outdoor. This idea would for sure be a hit and might help in reducing the use of electricity for lighting purposes.

More Read: Bites and Vibes in Karachi-Tomorrow