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Gizmorama - November 25, 2015
Good Morning,
Here's something that grabbed my attention. Researchers are combining electronic devices and plants to work as one. How weird/interesting is that? Science!
Learn about this and more interesting stories from the scientific community in today's issue.
Until Next Time,
Erin
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*-- Researchers implant organic electronics inside plants --*
LINKöPING, Sweden - Researchers at Linköping University in Sweden have found a way to install organic electric circuits inside plants, combining a plant's natural signaling networks with manmade electronics.
Scientists have been testing the new technology in bionic roses. The roses' vascular systems are implanted with plant-compatible polymer circuits capable of carrying both an analog and digital electronic signal.
In one experiment, the researchers slit a rose stem and stuck it in a solution of PEDOT, a conductive polymer. The rose's vascular tissue sucks up the water soluble polymer. Once absorbed, the polymer is deposited from the solution, forming a wire. Scientists added switches and transistors to create a full electric circuit.
In a second experiment, researchers used a process called vacuum infiltration to suck the air out of rose leaves and fill the empty space with the same polymer. When a charge was applied the leaves changed colors.
The experiments were detailed in a new paper, published this week in the journal Science Advances.
Scientists say the technology could eventually be used to manipulate plant physiology electronically instead of rearranging DNA.
Studies have previously experimented with electronic plants.
Last year, scientists at MIT doubled the photosynthesis rate of spinach by coaxing the plant's chloroplasts into taking up carbon nanotubes, which helped the spinach absorb a broader range of solar wavelengths.
But the latest experiments are the first time researchers have successfully integrated a full circuit.
"Previously, we had no good tools for measuring the concentration of various molecules in living plants," study co-author Ove Nilsson said in a press release. "Now we'll be able to influence the concentration of the various substances in the plant that regulate growth and development. Here, I see great possibilities for learning more."
Lead author Magnus Berggren is now trying to come up with useful applications for the technology, like creating plants that power a fuel cell.
"Now we can really start talking about 'power plants' -- we can place sensors in plants and use the energy formed in the chlorophyll, produce green antennas or produce new materials," said Berggren, professor of organic electronics at Linköping.
"Everything occurs naturally, and we use the plants' own very advanced, unique systems." he added. "As far as we know, there are no previously published research results regarding electronics produced in plants. No one's done this before."
*---- Raisin test can forecast toddler's academic ability ----*
COVENTRY, England - A simple self-control test involving a raisin and a plastic cup can accurately predict a toddler's future academic achievement.
For the test, a 20-month old child is given a raisin covered by an overturned see-through cup. The toddler is told to wait 60 seconds before taking the raisin.
Researchers at the University of Warwick in England found toddlers born prematurely were least likely to exhibit patience, and regularly took the raisin before the allotted time was up. By age eight, those same children were more likely to be underperforming academically relative to their full-term peers.
The researchers' paper was published this week in the Journal of Pediatrics.
"An easy, five-minute raisin game task represents a promising new tool for follow-up assessments to predict attention regulation and learning in preterm and term born children," senior study author Dieter Wolke, a psychology professor at the University of Warwick, said in a press release. "The results also point to potential innovative avenues to early intervention after preterm birth."
The newly analyzed data was sourced from an ongoing longitudinal study in Germany that began in 1985. The study involves 558 children, half of whom were born preterm and half full-term.
Seven years after the self-control test, the same children's attention spans were tested and measured by a team of psychologists. Standardized tests measured the children's performance in math, reading, spelling and writing.
The earlier a child was born before full-term, the lower their self-control score as a toddler; the lower the self control score, the more likely the child was to struggle at school.
Previous studies suggest such achievement gaps aren't permanent, and can be narrowed with various interventions. Researchers say their findings are important for identifying and correcting learning problems among preterm children.
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