Episode 521
Bionic plant sensors
A new way of bioengineering plants could provide us with super cheap chemical sensors.
Naked Scientists, In Short Special Editions Podcast · The Naked Scientists
November 10, 20162m 50s
Audio is streamed directly from the publisher (flex.acast.com) as published in their RSS feed. Play Podcasts does not host this file. Rights-holders can request removal through the copyright & takedown page.
Show Notes
Plants can be good for the planet, nice to look at and often pretty tasty. But what if they were also high tech sensors that we could harness to detect harmful chemicals and even explosives in groundwater or the air around them? Michael Strano and his group from MIT have produced just such a "bionic" plant by engineering spinach plants to produce more, or less, infrared light in the presence of certain chemicals. Connie Orbach heard how... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists
Topics
spincahexplosivesplant sensorsfluorescencewater