CYBER-PLANTS AND SPINACH THAT EMAILS

We all know someone who plays music for their ferns and chats to their succulents. but what if something you planted in your garden could send you an email about what’s going on underground?

The growing field of plant nanobionics is making the idea of plant-to-person communication seem less farfetched and is dreaming up new roles for plants that go beyond your dinner plate or window sill.

researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) recently embedded sensors in plant tissue in order to monitor the levels of arsenic taken up by the plants in real time.

This information can then be used to understand the presence of the poisonous substance in groundwater.

Having wild plants act as “autosamplers” is also a lot easier then sending humans out into the field with bulky equipment and offers an immediate look at arsenic levels.

This isn’t the first time engineers have used technology to put plants to work in novel ways.

Previously, researchers at MIT embedded carbon nanotubes into live spinach plants. The nanotubes monitored levels of certain chemicals in the plant’s roots, leaves and stems and sent out an infrared signal.

A simple smartphone camera was able to pick up the special signal. Meanwhile, a sensor constructed in the fields also received these signals and sent the information via email to the team — when the plants started talking, the scientists were listening.

“These results demonstrate the ability of living, wild-type plants to function as chemical monitors of groundwater and communication devices,” the researchers wrote in their report.

These particular spinach plants were designed to sense nitroaromatics, a chemical found in landmines and other explosives, which could be an important tool in mine clearance programs. buried explosives continue to be a global concern; in 2019 the Landmine Monitor recorded 2,170 deaths and 3,357 injuries from mines and explosive remnants of war – the majority of casualties were civilians.

Plant nanobionics refers to a field of research that seeks to mesh living plants with technology to give plants new and varied functions.

Plants give off electrical signals, caused by chemicals released by the plant’s cells in response to their environment. Scientists can insert an electrode either inside the plant itself or on the surface of the leaf to read these electrical signals, which can give information on temperature, light pollution, drought and much more. Further research is needed to decode these signals across plant species.

Harpreet Sareen and Pattie Maes, also at MIT, took advantage of this electrical information to develop a plant cyborg named elowan. Sensors register electrochemical signals given off by the plant when it senses light. These signals are then sent to the robotic platform the plant sit on, which drives it towards the source of light.

If roomba-like plants aren’t quite your thing, what about a nice reading lamp? researchers combined an altered form of the same chemical that fireflies use to create light with nanocrystals and two other chemicals to develop a watercress plant that gives off its own light. Although the light wasn’t very bright, and only lasted for several hours, researchers are hopeful that this may soon become a sustainable source of light.

“Our target is to perform one treatment when the plant is a seedling or a mature plant, and have it last for the lifetime of the plant,” Michael Strano, Professor of Chemical engineering at MIT and the senior author of the study told MIT News. “Our work very seriously opens up the doorway to streetlamps that are nothing but treated trees, and to indirect lighting around homes.”

research also suggests that plants respond to sound in their environment. A study conducted at Tel-aviv university and published in ecology Letters found that sounds of a flying bee correlated with Oenothera drummondii flowers producing sweeter nectar. The research suggests the flowers vibrate from specific pollinator sounds, but not sounds at higher frequency, indicating a specific evolutionary advantage.

So the next time you start talking to your plant, remember, they may actually know more than they’re letting on.