Rosy Circuitry

Rosy Circuitry
H/T Gideon Rosenblatt 

Originally shared by Gideon Rosenblatt

Cyborg Roses?

Researchers in Sweden created these powered flowers by flooding the roses' systems with a synthetic polymer called PEDOT-S. The flowers were able to take the polymer in through their stems as if it was nutrient-bearing water.

Once inside the flower's xylem, the PEDOT-S assembled into conductive wires up to 10 centimeters long.

Then the researchers could harness the plant's own electrolytes — nutrient minerals that carry an electric charge — to create working circuits. In the future, the study authors said, this method could be used to create circuitry for everything from monitoring plants to making changes that would otherwise require genetic engineering. If we could show that the circuits didn't make their way into harvested portions of edible plants, we could even create food that used electronics and genetically modified components to make resilient, bountiful food crops.

Shakespeare once noted "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." 

But will it?

http://wpo.st/VAGr0