Electronics in plants

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In Avatar the researchers could measure different signals moving in the root systems of plants. Now researchers from Sweden have learned to make plants grow electronic circuits inside their leaves and stems. They also learned to make electronics that can measure signals in plants and who can harvest energy from photosynthesis. This research is still rather unique in the world.

Abstract
The roots, stems, leaves, and vascular circuitry of higher plants are responsible for conveying the chemical signals that regulate growth and functions. From a certain perspective, these features are analogous to the contacts, interconnections, devices, and wires of discrete and integrated electronic circuits. Although many attempts have been made to augment plant function with electroactive materials, plants’ “circuitry” has never been directly merged with electronics. We report analog and digital organic electronic circuits and devices manufactured in living plants. The four key components of a circuit have been achieved using the xylem, leaves, veins, and signals of the plant as the template and integral part of the circuit elements and functions. With integrated and distributed electronics in plants, one can envisage a range of applications including precision recording and regulation of physiology, energy harvesting from photosynthesis, and alternatives to genetic modification for plant optimization.

http://http://advances.sciencemag.or.../1/10/e1501136