Category: Plants & Technology
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Trees In Space… Growing Satellites
Barnhart now envisions a space platform not manufactured on Earth and then constructed in space but one that is grown in orbit with hybrid organic and man-made materials — using a genetically modified Australian eucalyptus tree altered to withstand freezing temperatures, for example. The idea combines various disciplines at the intersection of biology, mechanics and digital systems. (Click on title or image for full story.)
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Using Lasers To Combat Citrus Disease
A group of researchers from the University of Florida have taken a new approach to the disease by studying a unique application of lasers on citrus leaves. They have found that lasers, when used with the right settings, could greatly improve the success of antibiotic treatments currently being looked into as a way to stop the deadliest plant disease in Florida’s history. (Click on title or image for full story.)
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Your Smartphone And Tablet Would Not Exist Without Carrots
It was the Austrian botanist Friedrich Reinitzer and the German physicist Otto Lehmann who discovered liquid crystals in 1888 when they were experimenting with the natural substances found in carrots and came across a strange phenomenon: some of the substances appeared to have not just one, but two different melting points. At the first melting point, the substance melted into a cloudy liquid, and at the second the cloudiness suddenly disappeared, giving way to a clear transparent liquid, a new state of matter that was termed “liquid crystal”. (Click on image or title for full story.)
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Invasive Plant Inspires Innovative Waterproof Coating For Boats
A floating weed that clogs waterways around the world has at least one redeeming feature: It’s inspired a high-tech waterproof coating intended for boats and submarines. (Click on image or title for full story.)
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Algae-based Batteries Are On The Way
Currently, the photosynthetic power cell exists on a small scale, and consists of an anode, cathode and proton exchange membrane. The cyanobacteria or blue green algae are placed in the anode chamber. As they undergo photosynthesis, the cyanobacteria release electrons to the electrode surface. An external load is connected to the device to extract the electrons and harness power. (Click on image ot title for full story)
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A GMO Work Around For Rare Drugs From Critically Endangered Plants
The endangered plant, called the mayapple, produces a precursor chemical to the chemotherapy drug etoposide, which is used in many patients with lung cancer, testicular cancer, brain cancer, lymphoma, leukemia and other cancers. The researchers genetically engineered the easily grown laboratory plant Nicotiana benthamiana, a wild relative of tobacco, to make the chemical.
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Extracting Rare And Precious Soil Minerals Using Plants: Welcome To Phytomining.
In German we call it ‘mining with plants’. We want to bring elements that are present in the soil into the roots and shoots of the plants, harvest them and then extract these elements from the plants after they have been used for energy, that is to say fermented
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Firefly Genes Used To Help Scientists Study Plant Roots
The new technique enables scientists to grow genetically modified glowing plants in special vessels. The investigators can then observe roots growing under a variety of different circumstances.
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Electricity From Moss To Power The World
There’s also something beautiful about the idea of having to really care for your electricity generator and make sure you look after it properly.
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The Secret To Artificial Muscles (For Robots If Not Us) May Be Onions
The plant epidermal cells are cheap and easy to obtained, at no cost to the environment. Due to the diversity of plants and their cell structures, discovering the use of natural structures in engineering is of interest. Onion epidermal cell, for example, has a unique structure in that, when varying magnitudes of the applied voltage, it will bend in different directions due to electrostatic attraction.