Scientists say new glowing plants could replace artificial yard lighting

Sounds like something out of 'The Last of Us',, the first step on the road to a zombie outbreak

Bioluminescence is awesome. Replacement for yard lighting???? Nah. But it is cool and I would absolutely use it just for the visual it creates.

originally posted by: onestonemonkey
a reply to: Skywatcher2011
As long as these plants are not harmful to animals/kids/bugs I can see this taking off in a huge way.

It is genetic modification though-so there may be issues with cross polination or toxicity to insects?

I should mention Triffids as well-these plants may turn into carniverous triffids-but at least it will be harder for them to hide.

Feed me Seymour

originally posted by: Cavemannick
a reply to: Skywatcher2011

It looks cool, though what effect would these plants when ingested by wildlife have an impact on the creatures immune system, is it able to be digested by by an animal or mammal.

Will it kill the creature consuming it, as it takes eons for a species to adapt to a change in environment.

I think the same applies to humans with genetically modified foods, has the repercussions being looked into how these foods impact our biology.

Why change genetics

I may be quite wrong… but I believe most wildlife have adapted/evolved to avoid ingesting such things. I mean… would you eat this? Its glowing and colorful, typically a warning to NOT eat it.

a reply to: Skywatcher2011

Nice. Now, if the law of unintended consequences is nice to us, this will work fine.

Stephen King in Creepshow (1982) Stephen King as Jordy Verrill HD Part 2

a reply to: Skywatcher2011

Now this is cool! I know that genetically modifying plants is a risky thing because you don't know the future evolution of future generations of plants or their invasiveness

Good point, but Indeed very cool if it doesn't effect the biological environment of other plants, or something more ?

Well, if the deer eat these, it will be easier to see the glowing deer when deer hunting. I suppose the plants will take over the world and be listed as an invasive species in twenty years.

At night, the snow will be glowing from all the herbivours pee too.

Anyone ever heard of Cambrian Genomics? They were a startup that sold a glowing plant on Kickstarter about a decade ago (and made $500k) by modifying the plant's genetic makeup on a computer.

This story is utterly crazy. Cambrian wanted to use their DNA editing technology to bring back dinosaurs and eventually let people design their babies via software. And create their own hybrid creatures.

The company founder was suicided at a really young age and the company disappeared.