A photo from open sources, Man continues to argue with the Creator, trying to improve the properties of living organisms. One way is bionics. The first attempts in this area were made the great Leonardo da Vinci, who designed wings for raising person into the air. But modern scientists are trying to integrate electronics and nanomaterials are living plants. Bionics is a science combining biology with technology. According to the researchers, such “advanced” plants will be able to perform a number functions laid down in them by man and providing his needs. For example, they are planned to be used to generate electricity, air purification, monitoring pollution levels environment … This kind of research includes experiments MIT specialists who revealed unique potential of bionic plants. So, employees Institute conducted experiments on a plant of the cabbage family Arabidopsis thaliana (Tal rezhovidka). This allowed to open in an ordinary, very common plant, a number of amazing properties. As a result of the introduction of carbon nanotubes into the cell the structure of Arabidopsis thaliana increased their ability to capture of light energy, as well as the ability to absorb nitric oxide, which is one of the main pollutants air All experiments were carried out first on cell structures placed in a test tube and then transferred to living plants. Nitric oxide reaction proved to be one of the most successful the results of the experiment. At the same time, the glow indicator became a success indicator. plants! This was the result of the interaction of a particular polymer coating used in the experiment tubes with a pollutant, which caused weak but impressive fluorescence. Earlier, scientists from Massachusetts developed various sensors based on nanotubes, reacting to hazardous pollutants, primarily trinitrotoluene and nerve gas sarin. Thus bionic plants have already shown themselves to be a very reliable indicator of dangerous substances … Indicators are also being developed that, if successful introduction will allow to detect pesticides in the environment, fungal and bacterial infections. Moreover, embedded in them nanotubes can be “sharpened” under any substances or bacteria. Nanotubes are structures with diameters from one to several tens of nanometers and a length of several centimeters. With their help, an international team of scientists from Texas was able to create artificial muscle, which is 85 times stronger than human. For this paraffin was introduced into a twisted thread of nanotubes. Interesting that Russian scientists were the first to engage in similar structures. So, in 1977, the scientific team of the Institute of Catalysis of the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences under microscope recorded the formation of “hollow carbon dendrites, “the mechanism of their formation and the structure of the walls is described. But nanotubes were observed even earlier, in 1952 year. In an article by Soviet scientists Radushkevich and Lukyanovich electron microscopic observation of fibers with diameter of the order of 100 nanometers obtained by thermal decomposition of carbon monoxide on an iron catalyst. These research, unfortunately, was not continued for reasons far from science. And the fruits of research were already ripening in the West. So far experiments aim exclusively to make life easier, protect yourself from unwanted chemicals or microorganisms … But what will be tomorrow? The future is painted in the form of environmentally friendly settlements from flexible materials that repeat natural forms, such as DNA. The houses of the future can spin like a snail shell, preserving softness and flexibility of living tissue, or take the form of a drop, changing depending on the circumstances. On the fluorescent lawns they will be arranged in picturesque groups, receiving electricity from improved plants … What will just happen to people? Can and we will have to be improved? The topic is enough “slippery” … The famous American biologist Martek in his book Bionics warns: “Each new idea is like a frightened one.” horse. If you let go of the reins a little bit, the horse can carry it. When dealing with new ideas, you must always keep sobriety of judgment and common sense. “Elena Gimadieva (Prepared by Irina Shlionskaya)
Plant DNA
