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Design

Are There Glowing Trees In Our Future?

Gold nano-particles turn leaves into bio-light-emitting diodes.

Remember the Tree of Souls from Avatar with its glowing tendrils? Well, it may not be long before we see similar brightly lit trees lining the suburban streets of the world’s cities, perhaps replacing lamp posts. In Taiwan, researchers looking to create super-efficient LEDs have synthesized gold nano-particles which they implanted in the leaves of the aquarium plant Bacopa caroliniana to induce bioluminescence, the light causing the plant’s chloroplast to conduct photosynthesis, making the entire process energy-efficient. Just think, this could revolutionize the Christmas tree lights industry, mercifully ending many distressful years of untangling a complicated mesh of broken fairy lights.

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[via Physorg.com]