Breakthrough technology could make long-distance space travel feasible, clean our air here on Earth, and even combat global warming.
To say that an invention has the potential to change the world is often an overstatement, but here’s a case where the phrase seems to fit: Royal College of Art graduate Julian Melchiorri has created the world’s first man-made, biologically functional “leaf,” reports Dezeen.
To get your mind around just how world-altering this invention could be, first understand just how important normal vegetation is for life on Earth. As the only organisms capable of converting sunlight into food, plants are the powerhouses that produce all of the sustenance on Earth. This process also produces the oxygen that we breath, and scrubs the air of pollutants and excess carbon dioxide, and helps to regulate the planet’s climate.
Melchiorri’s invention can potentially duplicate many of these benefits with a man-made material. In fact, this artificial leaf could potentially do even more, by allowing our astronauts to travel longer distances in space and possibly even colonize new planets.
“Plants don’t grow in zero gravity,” explained Melchiorri. “NASA is researching different ways to produce oxygen for long-distance space journeys to let us live in space. This material could allow us to explore space much further than we can now.”
Read more . . .
The Latest on: Artificial photosynthesis
[google_news title=”” keyword=”Artificial photosynthesis” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
via Google News
The Latest on: Artificial photosynthesis
- Imperial Academic Secures €2.4m European Funding to Enhance Solar Harvesting Technologyon April 26, 2024 at 4:40 pm
Professor Jenny Nelson has won a prestigious European Research Council grant to learn lessons from plants and apply them to solar technologies.She will use the grant to unpick how plants convert ...
- 2024 Inno Under 25on April 25, 2024 at 9:27 am
These young innovators — all 25 or younger — are already making a mark on Greater Philadelphia, from fashion to environmental solutions.
- Future proofing with fungion April 24, 2024 at 2:59 pm
Some fungi have evolved to break down tough natural polymers, such as the cellulose found in plants. But while cellulose has existed for millions of years, plastic – which is a synthetic polymer – is ...
- This Swedish startup made the tech behind the world’s first solar-powered headphones – here’s how it workson April 22, 2024 at 9:52 am
"Powerfoyle is based on a lab scale discovery called 'dye-sensitized solar cells', which we have both reinvented and scaled to match the demands of global companies like 3M, adidas and Vusion Group.
- The Business School Entrepreneurs Tackling Sustainable Developmenton April 22, 2024 at 5:16 am
Meeting the climate challenge will require new leaders who understand the scale and urgency of the challenges, and bring practical solutions to addressing the problems.
- Vertical farming champion looks to stack Manitoba’s futureon April 19, 2024 at 1:28 pm
A number of vertical farming operations have already established in Manitoba. Harvest Today is a U.S.-based company with a facility near Winnipeg, where it grows produce under “vertigation”— walls of ...
- Alien Life Could Be Purple Instead Of Popular Green, New Study Suggestson April 19, 2024 at 3:04 am
Imagine looking up at the sky and seeing a world unlike any you've ever known. Instead of the familiar green landscapes of Earth, this planet is covered in shades of purple. It sounds like something ...
- Shaping the Solar Panel Industry Future: Innovations to Comeon April 18, 2024 at 1:45 am
Solar panels have long become one of the most beloved energy sources among green enthusiasts people willing to cut their energy bills and those fighting climate change That said as ...
- Making crops colorful for easier weedingon April 17, 2024 at 1:46 pm
To make weeding easier, scientists suggest bioengineering crops to be colorful or to have differently shaped leaves so that they can be more easily distinguished from their wild and weedy counterparts ...
- Every time you blame cows for climate change, an oil executive laughson April 16, 2024 at 4:02 am
Of all the climate solutions out there, maybe we should concentrate on the 97% of industrial emissions that come from fossil fuels, and leave the cows out of it, Eurof Uppington writes.
via Bing News