Scientists have created a kind of cyborg flower: living roses with tiny
electronic circuits threaded through their vascular systems.
The miniscule electronic polymers are inserted into the plant, then almost
magically self-assemble thanks to the rose's internal structure.
"In a sense, the plant is helping to organize the electronic
devices," said study co-author Magnus Berggren, an organic electronics
researcher at Linköping University in Sweden.
The strange cyberplants could one day make it possible to tell flowers when
to bloom to avoid an impending frost, or when to put out hormones to prevent a
drought.
The new embedded sensor network could one day be used to prevent flowers
from blooming when a frost is on the way. It could also be used to
preferentially improve a plant's productivity when weather conditions are
right, Berggren said.
Of course, scientists routinely use genetic engineering to alter the water
demands, flowering process and hardiness of plants. Plant genetic modification
is safe, well-understood and extremely easy to do. So why go to the trouble of
embedding electronics for the same purpose?
Changing some traits, such as flowering time, may be too disruptive to an
ecosystem if done permanently, especially if those changes could propagate
through forests and fields, Berggren. But an electronic switch would be
reversible, he said. Ultimately, Berggren sees plants of the future combining
both genetic engineering and electrical sensors, he said.
For food crops, scientists would have to show that organic polymers don't
make it into the fruits, seeds or edible portions of the plant. And ultimately,
the team hopes to use biological chemicals, such as chlorophyll, to create the
electronic circuits, bypassing the potential for environmental contamination as
a result, Berggren said.
"We can refine materials in plants to become semiconductors and
conductors, and put them back in plants to become devices," Berggren said.
