Can my spinach send me love letters?

[Quackers101]

Summary

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Through nanotechnology, engineers at MIT in the US have transformed spinach into sensors capable of detecting explosive materials. These plants are then able to wirelessly relay this information back to the scientists.

When the spinach roots detect the presence of nitroaromatics in groundwater, a compound often found in explosives like landmines, the carbon nanotubes within the plant leaves emit a signal. This signal is then read by an infrared camera, sending an email alert to the scientists.

This experiment is part of a wider field of research which involves engineering electronic components and systems into plants. The technology is known as “plant nanobionics”, and is effectively the process of giving plants new abilities.

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Environmental potential

 

While the purpose of this experiment was to detect explosives, Strano and other scientists believe it could be used to help warn researchers about pollution and other environmental conditions.

Because of the vast amount of data plants absorb from their surroundings, they are ideally situated to monitor ecological changes.

In the early phases of plant nanobionic research, Strano used nanoparticles to make plants into sensors for pollutants. By altering how the plants photosynthesized, he was able to have them detect nitric oxide, a pollutant caused by combustion. “Plants are very environmentally responsive,” Strano says. “They know that there is going to be a drought long before we do. They can detect small changes in the properties of soil and water potential. If we tap into those chemical signalling pathways, there is a wealth of information to access.”

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Scientists from the American University have found that when spinach is converted into carbon nanosheets, it can function as a catalyst to help make metal-air batteries and fuel cells more efficient. “This work suggests that sustainable catalysts can be made for an oxygen reduction reaction from natural resources”. Metal-air batteries are a more energy efficient alternative to lithium-ion batteries, which are commonly found in commercial products like smartphones. Spinach was specifically chosen because of its abundance of iron and nitrogen, which are important elements in compounds that act as catalysts. The researchers had to wash, juice and grind the spinach into a powder, turning it from its edible form into nanosheets suitable for the process. “The method we tested can produce highly active, carbon-based catalysts from spinach, which is a renewable biomass"

Would think the next time you want a smart smoothie, you will get what the plants thinks about you doing that to it's relatives.

So smart food is born and will do better than you in school and then grow a plant based humanoid that will take over the world.

[Quackers101]

2 minutes ago, huilun02 said:

They make it sound like a cure for cancer was discovered....

But they have, just don't be human, become plant and don't get cancer.

[bellabichon]

1 minute ago, huilun02 said:

They make it sound like a cure for cancer was discovered....

That's pretty much all of tech journalism at this point. Read me the last few video titles from TechLinked...

[Spotty]

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Spinach has been engineered to send emails when it finds specific compounds. This tech could be used to detect landmines, pollution, and even upcoming droughts.

Spinach are the sort of jerks that would detect landmines, then choose not tell us about them.

[Letgomyleghoe]

3 minutes ago, huilun02 said:

Its just a genetically engineered plant that shows a visible indicator when it ingests a particular substance.

 

They make it sound like a cure for cancer was discovered....

 

Barely tech related

but you're not seeing the possible implications this has, you could plant fields of this spinach around factory to detect chemical leaks, use it to find the general location of old mines in a field, detect hotspots of pollution or the source of pollution in an area. 

no one looks beyond face value anymore. 

[Quackers101]

plant this in war zones and make them look for mines, just don't think about the millions of explosive devices left over the years or current warfare.

nvm, I got rats and dogs who are better at it.

[TempestCatto]

What would plants say about vegans?

[Quackers101]

3 minutes ago, TempestCatto said:

What would plants say about vegans?

That they are the same as meat eaters, they are all the same.

Like can you see the difference between spinach pos12row80 vs spinach pos411row69?

[StDragon]

9 hours ago, TempestCatto said:

What would plants say about vegans?

Monsters! Absolute unrepentant monsters.

 

You vegans need to change your diet. Can't you hear the broccoli scream? 

[Beskamir]

11 hours ago, huilun02 said:

Its just a genetically engineered plant that shows a visible indicator when it ingests a particular substance.

 

They make it sound like a cure for cancer was discovered....

 

Barely tech related

Exactly! If you read the paper it's literally just a raspberry pi camera with no infrared filters looking at plant leaves so when those leaves change color from substances in the soil the camera picks that up and the computer it's attached to sends off a message. It's cool that plant leaves can be used to monitor soil like that but it's no where near as hyped as the mainstream news would have you believe.

 

Unfortunately the paper is paywalled thanks to very greedy publishers that want to profit off other people's work/research and tax payer/grants/tuition/etc funding while providing absolutely no value or monetary assistance of their own. Fortunately Alexandra Elbakyan and other activists are against such greed so the paper is accessible. Although I'd probably be breaking forum rules if I posted it here so you'll have to find it on your own, here's the paper's doi that should make that considerably easier doi:10.1038/nmat4771

 

Oh and that paper is from like 2016 so this isn't even new research!

[PlayStation 2]

Time to interrogate some spinach.

[soldier_ph]

Never thought Spinach of all things is gonna be used in Modern Warfare.

[Dillpickle23422]

new minesweeper strat: throw spinach at the screen and it'll detect the mines

[FakeNSA]

Nanomachines, son.

[Vishera]

14 hours ago, Quackers101 said:

and is effectively the process of giving plants new abilities.

And that's how super-plant was born.

[Bombastinator]

No. Only olive oil sends you love letters

 

(this is an old people joke.  References the cartoon ‘pop eye’ which was actually developed as a canned spinach advertisement because children of the period thought canned spinach was astoundingly awful.  It falls into the catagory of things even old people don’t need to know.  Dude that invented Popeye is frequently mentioned in the same breath with Charles Schultz, the creator of ‘peanuts’ who happened to go to the same school I did.  I even took drawing from the same instructor.  The inventor of popey went to that one in New York City though)

Edited February 4, 2021 by Bombastinator

[StDragon]

*Accidently cuts finger*

*e-mail from plant that it wants a drop of blood*

 

Nope! I've seen that movie before. 

[Rugg]

I wonder. . . If you want to detect explosive mines, don't you have to go out and plant these spinach's? IE. You have to walk onto an active minefield?

[StDragon]

41 minutes ago, Rugg said:

I wonder. . . If you want to detect explosive mines, don't you have to go out and plant these spinach's? IE. You have to walk onto an active minefield?

Airdrop seeds and have them grow on their own. Then you use SAT imagery to detect the plant's responsiveness to any chemical residue left over by mines.

 

In actuality, it would probably attract animals. If they're heavy enough, well, mine detected! The buzzards would cleanup the rest.