A young English inventor – Julian Melchiorri of the Royal College of Art – has created a synthetic biological leaf that absorbs water and carbon dioxide and produces oxygen, just like plants do. The leaf consists of chloroplasts suspended in a matrix made of silk proteins, extracted directly from the silk fibers. In short, it is a photosynthetic material that lives and breathes like a leaf. It needs, like the leaves of a plant, light and water.
One possibility is to use this 'leaf' for space travel. Plants don't grow in zero gravity. NASA is studying how to produce oxygen for long journeys and this material opens up new possibilities in this field. The 'Silk Leaf Project' was developed as part of the Royal College of Art's 'Innovation Design and Engineering' course in collaboration with the 'Tufts University Silk Lab'. Melchiorri states that this leaf can be used for many applications, such as ventilation systems. "You can take in air from outside, pass it through these biological filters and bring in oxygenated air."
Attachments: The Asian Age article
