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Okay, so we've got cyborgs coming, and we've got robots and we've got genetically engineered
animals and we've got genetically engineered plants... WAIT A MINUTE I'VE GOT AN IDEA.
[[MUSIC PLAYING]]
Hey everybody, Trace here reporting for DNews! BIONIC PLANTS. BIONIC. PLANTS. They're a thing,
and they're coming.
Plants clean and revitalize the air for us, hold soil in place for other plants, protect
wildlife from predators and weather, produce nutrition and SO MANY other things. But scientists
at MIT looked and plants and were like, "We can do better." Their experiments with plants
involved embedding nanomaterials -- materials so small you can't see them with the naked
eye. These nanomaterials could add to plants' functions and enhance their natural abilities..
// We totally need a Bionic Man joke...
These MIT researchers created a solution of modified, negatively charged DNA wrapped nanotube
particles wrapped in polyacrylic acid. They added some of the solution to the underside
of leaves so they could enter through the leaf's natural pores, called stomata -- remember
that from high school bio class?? Once inside the leaves, this acid allows the material
to pass through the membrane into the chloroplast to deliver the nano-payload! It reminds me
of the Terminator, a robot surrounded by organic material... yikes.
Normally, a leaf can use about 10 percent of the energy that hits the leaf, but with
the addition of these carbon nanotubes, the leaf can pull in wavelengths normally out
of its reach, adding a 49-percent increase in overall electron flow! This is the most
basic level of what they've dubbed, "plant nanobiotics," so though the scientists CAN
make plants do this, they don't actually know what that 49-percent increase in electron
flow will do to the plant in question.
But the possibilities are astounding, with an increase in electron output we might see
plants that can detect contaminants in the water, air or soil out in the yard or in a
forest... You could end up with a fern that enhances your Wi-Fi signal, or a tree that
pulls in over-the-air television. Because it's so new, the possibilities are endless!
Funnily enough, this technology got its start when the researchers were attempting to create
plant-based solar cells... instead, we just made plants better. Who knows where a little
science will take you?
Think about it for a second, and tell us what crazy plant nanobionics you'd want to create
if you could. Share your ideas down in the comments and subscribe for more DNews -- thanks
for watching!