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divepilot t1_j0zempt wrote

Glowing plants were a bit of a dud so far, but new work is in progress.

One of the many issues is that even if it works, should it be released into the wild, ever? If not, once it exists, can we avoid it? (because it's "soo cool", it just takes a few seeds)
What is the impact of lights on nocturnal life? (Althought that ship has kind of sailed with the light bulb).

The nice thing is that it takes extra energy to glow at night, whichever way it is done. So the glowing plant may be unlikely to become invasive.

The pictures needed long-term exposure to get enough light.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glowing_Plant_project
https://www.wired.com/story/inside-the-glowing-plant-startup-that-just-gave-up-its-quest/

MIT uses another approach:
https://news.mit.edu/2021/glowing-plants-nanoparticles-0917

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alakeya OP t1_j0zfdza wrote

That’s a really reasonable concern! Sad to hear that the startup failed but it’s not an easy project so they still contributed to the research

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