Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have designed bionic spinach that can communicate through carbon nanosensors, a paper published Monday details. The scientists exploited the plant's natural capacity to detect “nitroaromatics”—that is, chemical compounds commonly used in explosives—to create a fluorescent signal to alert users as to the potential presence of bombs. “Plants are very environmentally responsive,” paper co-author Michael Strano, a chemical engineer at MIT said in a statement. “If we tap into those chemical signaling pathways, there is a wealth of information to access.”
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