“Julian Melchiorri on the first synthetic biological leaf” — http://www.dezeen.com/2014/07/25/movie-silk-leaf-first-man-made-synthetic-biological-leaf-space-travel/. This is completely and mind-blowingly amazing. I am surprised more people aren’t shouting this from the rooftop.
RCA graduate Julian Melchiorri says the synthetic biological leaf he developed, which absorbs water and carbon dioxide to produce oxygen just like a plant, could enable long-distance space travel.
We would finally be able to travel to Mars and further without having to pack so much oxygen. The weight limits would be bypassed, and more equipment could be carried. Along with the Tesla/(Elon Musk) Space X rocket, which can land and liftoff for multiple journeys, it would be an easy endeavor to have people travel back and forth from the “colonies.”
Melchiorri’s Silk Leaf project, which he developed as part of the Royal College of Art’s Innovation Design Engineering course in collaboration with Tufts University silk lab, consists of chloroplasts suspended in a matrix made out of silk protein.
These pieces of silk leaf fabric are able to photosynthesize oxygen. Just shine some light through the leaves, and there’s oxygen creation.
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The article is getting a lot of negative response, but it’s really quite a remarkable idea.
At some point in the future, we could have oxygen producing drapes on our windows, wall hangings that literally breathe, and the assurance that whatever happens, we’ve got clean air in our home.
I believe there are going to be many technological marvels discovered in the coming years. The world will be terrible ecologically, but I hope that will only be in some areas. Places like China and Texas will have terrible air and bad stuff, but most of the rest of the world will be better off. Still, it would be worth the cost to purchase an air conditioner that also cleans and creates oxygen, or clothing that literally breathes.
A filter of silk leaf could be part of a person’s breathing mask. If its able to be kept alive, it could last for decades.
An outfit made of breathable material. Flip up the hood and keep from suffocating while in a place packed with people. The perfect party suit. (Translucent bubble suit of silk leaf. Bicycle shorts-wearing grinding body, twisting and bending, cami top clinging, dancing within the safety of her private world. Holland watched her for a moment, tracing the curves and bends, admiring the nubile young beauty; his admiration was abstract but honest.)
Apartment complexes would offer the luxury of a silk leaf shell that produces clean oxygen for the occupants. That would be something people would want available.
I don’t know. I am really enthusiastic about some of the newest technologies coming out.
