March 16, 2014

Bionic plants



Nanotechnology could turn shrubbery into supercharged energy producers or sensors for explosives.

Plants have many valuable functions: They provide food and fuel, release the oxygen that we breathe, and add beauty to our surroundings. Now, a team of MIT researchers wants to make plants even more useful by augmenting them with nanomaterials that could enhance their energy production and give them completely new functions, such as monitoring environmental pollutants.