Avatar fans, good news — we are another step closer to turning Earth into Pandora.
Chinese biotech startup Magicpen Bio has created plants that glow in the dark, per EuroNews.
By splicing genes from fireflies and bioluminescent mushrooms, they genetically engineered some 20 plant species, including lilies, orchids, and roses, to emit visible light, a technical feat that reportedly took ~532 rounds of iterations to achieve.
Amid climate change and rising demand for energy, Magicpen founder Li Renhan says glowing plants could one day provide an electricity-free, cost-efficient way to illuminate cities around the world.
Plant-based lighting
Magicpen isn’t the first to engineer luminous plants, or the only startup working to improve the tech.
The first was created in 1986, when US researchers injected firefly genes into tobacco plants. In 2020, another team did the same using genes of glowing fungi.
But buzz around bioluminescent plants really picked up in 2024, when Light Bio started selling $40 glow-in-the-dark petunias (also made using mushrooms) as household plants, which the USDA deemed safe to grow and breed.
A year later, Chinese scientists created multicolored succulents that “recharge” in the sun by injecting them with strontium aluminate, a material often used in glow-in-the-dark toys and watch dials.
So, bye-bye, streetlights?
Not quite yet. For now, they’re better suited to replace nightlights, to beautify gardens, or as a fun novelty gift.
While each iteration has produced brighter plants, these alien-like floras are still too dim to replace nighttime urban lighting, though that’s certainly the goal and, as long as scientists keep tinkering, a potentially not-too-distant reality.
But practical applications aside, it’s just down-right magical — which seems to be at least one motivation for people working in the space:
- Almost every team has made some mention of realizing “our solarpunk dreams” by “bringing the 'Avatar' world to Earth.”
Need science always be more than that?
Sustainability
Sustainability
