by Could Houseplants Keep Tabs on the Health of Your Home?
Researchers at the University of Tennessee look at the possibility of using plants as biosensors to detect dangers like mold or radon
Your future home has all the modern amenities. Heliport for your flying car, robot chef, touch screen walls. And then there are the houseplants. They may look like ordinary spider plants and peace lilies. But one day, out of nowhere, the plants begin to glow an eerie purple.
Uh oh. You must have a mold problem. The plants, you see, are biosensors that monitor your home’s health: they can tell you when radon or carbon monoxide levels are too high, if there’s harmful mold lurking beneath the bathroom wallpaper, of whether someone in the house is exhaling flu virus particles, among other hazards.
As futuristic as it sounds, these houseplant biosensors may be a reality long before flying cars. A new article in Science from University of Tennessee researchers details the possibilities, in conceptual terms, of using genetically engineered plants to monitor our home environments.
Continued...
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Researchers at the University of Tennessee look at the possibility of using plants as biosensors to detect dangers like mold or radon
Your future home has all the modern amenities. Heliport for your flying car, robot chef, touch screen walls. And then there are the houseplants. They may look like ordinary spider plants and peace lilies. But one day, out of nowhere, the plants begin to glow an eerie purple.
Uh oh. You must have a mold problem. The plants, you see, are biosensors that monitor your home’s health: they can tell you when radon or carbon monoxide levels are too high, if there’s harmful mold lurking beneath the bathroom wallpaper, of whether someone in the house is exhaling flu virus particles, among other hazards.
As futuristic as it sounds, these houseplant biosensors may be a reality long before flying cars. A new article in Science from University of Tennessee researchers details the possibilities, in conceptual terms, of using genetically engineered plants to monitor our home environments.
Continued...
Source
