<h2>Metal Vine</h2>
<p>Soft robots have taken a page from the plant playbook. Using physical properties similar to those found in plants, researchers from the <a href="https://www.iit.it/">Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia</a> (IIT) in Genoa, Italy have created a soft robot capable of creeping and climbing similar to the way plant vines do. Their research, published last week in the journal <em><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-08173-y#Sec16">Nature Communications</a>, </em>could lead to an new generation of soft robots and wearable technology, such as bracelets capable of altering their shape.</p>
<h2>Smarty Plants</h2>
<p>We don&#8217;t often think about movement in plants. One of the most commonly pictured examples of plant movement might be the closing of leaves in a carnivorous venus flytrap. But many kinds of plants move, their movement is just focused on which direction they slowly grow. In order to direct their growth, plants exploit water transport or osmosis within their cells.</p>
<p>IIT&#8217;s soft robot, which has a flexible polyethylene body filled with a liquid charged with ions, mimics this process. Using a low-voltage battery the flow of electrically-charged liquid within the robot can be directed to one side or the other. The movement of the liquid causes the robot to move in suite, allowing it to wind and creep similar to a plant vine. It&#8217;s simple enough to unwind the robot by reversing the polarity of the charge.</p>
<p><iframe width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iLfpeWYc7zk?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>Similar to movement in plants the process takes time as seen in the video clip above.</p>
<h2>Winding and Winding and Winding</h2>
<p>It&#8217;s among the first of times a soft robot has mimicked plant movement but the early experiment demonstrates the feasibility of a concept which could lead to <a href="https://futurism.com/artificial-muscles-lift-1000-times-weight">super strong robots</a> capable of adapting to their environment or working with organic beings <a href="https://futurism.com/soft-robots-sense-world">without danger of squishing them</a>. It could also inspire future generations of soft robots which exploit other biological processes to navigate challenging situations.</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE: </strong><a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/01/190124105317.htm">The first tendril-like soft robot able to climb</a> [Science Daily]</p>
<p><strong><em>More on Soft Robots: </em></strong><a href="https://futurism.com/material-robots-human-skin">Scientists Manipulated a Material for Robots That Grows Like Human Skin</a></p>


Creepy, crawly tendrils meet soft robotics.

This soft robot mimics plant tendrils to creep and climb

Creepy Crawly Robots

A new kind of soft robot mimics the way plant vines grow in order to creep, crawl, and climb over obstacles in its environment.

This Soft Robot Mimics Plant Tendrils To Creep and Climb

This little sprout has got places to go! 🌱

<h2>Natural Defense</h2>
<p>Plants need carbon dioxide (CO2) to survive, and that&#8217;s a very good thing for humans — our activity produces almost <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-global-co2-emissions-set-to-rise-2-percent-in-2017-following-three-year-plateau" target="_blank" rel="noopener">40 billion tons</a> of the gas every year, but only about half of that actually reaches the atmosphere. The rest is processed by plants, stored in soil, or absorbed by the oceans.</p>
<p>That could change in the future, though. A <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0848-x" target="_blank" rel="noopener">new study</a> out of Columbia University suggests that this current rate of CO2 absorption might not last.</p>
<p>&#8220;Should the land reach a maximum carbon uptake rate, global warming could accelerate, with important consequences for people and the environment,&#8221; <a href="https://engineering.columbia.edu/press-releases/climate-change-tipping-point" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said researcher</a> Pierre Gentine.</p>
<h2>Extreme Problem</h2>
<p>In the new paper, which was published on Wednesday in the journal <i>Nature</i>, the Columbia University researchers detail their efforts to determine how changes to the Earth&#8217;s hydrological cycle, such as droughts or floods, impact the continents&#8217; ability to trap CO2 emissions.</p>
<p>Using data from several planetary models, they sought to pinpoint reductions in net biome productivity (NBP) — the amount of carbon a region gains or loses over a specific period of time — due to changes in soil moisture. What they found was startling.</p>
<p>&#8220;We saw that the value of NBP, in this instance a net gain of carbon on the land surface, would actually be almost twice as high if it weren&#8217;t for these changes (variability and trend) in soil moisture,&#8221; researcher Julia Green said in a <a href="https://engineering.columbia.edu/press-releases/climate-change-tipping-point" target="_blank" rel="noopener">press release</a>.</p>
<p>In other words, the land was only absorbing about half as much CO2 as it could have been.</p>
<h2>In Deep Water</h2>
<p>The research could reveal the beginning of a very dangerous cycle. Climate changes is causing more extreme weather events, such as droughts and floods. These events affect the soil in a way that impacts the land&#8217;s ability to absorb CO2. If the land absorbs less CO2, climate change will get worse, causing more extreme weather events.</p>
<p>&#8220;This is a big deal!&#8221; Green said. &#8220;If soil moisture continues to reduce NBP at the current rate, and the rate of carbon uptake by the land starts to decrease by the middle of this century — as we found in the models — we could potentially see a large increase in the concentration of atmospheric CO2 and a corresponding rise in the effects of global warming and climate change.&#8221;</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE:</strong> <a href="https://engineering.columbia.edu/press-releases/climate-change-tipping-point" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Climate Change Tipping Point Could Be Coming Sooner Than We Think</a> [Columbia University]</p>
<p><em><strong>More on CO2: <a href="https://futurism.com/scientists-engineering-carbon-storing-plants-fight-climate-change" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Scientists Are Engineering Carbon-Storing Plants to Fight Climate Change</a></strong></em></p>


Extreme weather is preventing plants from processing carbon

CO2 Overload

New research shines a light on the importance of soil moisture in plants' ability to trap CO2 — and extreme weather events could hinder that ability.

Extreme Weather Is Preventing Plants From Processing Carbon

We could be on the brink of a climate tipping point.

<h2><strong>T-1000</strong></h2>
<p>A car that erases key scratches like an Etch-a-Sketch. A phone that fixes itself when you drop it on the sidewalk moments after buying it. Body armor and robots that can automatically stitch up holes.</p>
<p>If a new self-growing and self-repairing material recently developed at MIT hits the market, these are just some of the ways it could help our clumsy selves in everyday life, <a href="https://nexusmedianews.com/imagine-a-cell-phone-that-regrows-its-screen-f91e01f1d23b">reports <em>Nexus Media</em></a>.</p>
<h2><strong>Green Power</strong></h2>
<p>The material, described in research recently <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/adma.201804037?referrer_access_token=-E4fHMphTAag22oIEs3R-E4keas67K9QMdWULTWMo8PgoYGcrwqK7nABzb7VaV3NR9Rp_F07PYoR1zIGG8LRKNpr0Lm9iclYEvbw-_0FqGBz_sWkwAKujZcLIuFRmxZo">published in the journal <em>Advanced Materials</em></a>, relies on photosynthesis — the same biochemical process that plants use to turn sunlight and carbon dioxide into food.</p>
<p>In short, scientists embedded chloroplasts — the parts of plant and some bacterial cells that carry out photosynthesis — into a thin film. With just the air around them and ample sunlight, the chloroplasts generate a thin biofilm that <a href="https://futurism.com/next-revolution-transport-roads-heal-themselves">patches holes and strengthens</a> over time.</p>
<h2><strong>Watching Grass Grow</strong></h2>
<p>Right now, the film grows slowly and it&#8217;s not particularly strong, two problems that will need to be solved before these <a href="https://futurism.com/darpa-is-working-to-make-homes-that-grow-and-can-repair-themselves">self-repairing products</a> hit the market. But this new research shows that chloroplast-based materials can work, something that&#8217;s never been done before.</p>
<p>Now it&#8217;s up to these scientists and their colleagues to make a version that&#8217;s actually useful — because let’s be real, I added two more cracks to my phone screen just while writing this article.</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE:</strong> <a href="https://nexusmedianews.com/imagine-a-cell-phone-that-regrows-its-screen-f91e01f1d23b">Imagine a Phone That Regrows Its Screen</a> [<em>Nexus Media</em>]</p>
<p><strong><em>More on regenerative materials:</em></strong> <strong><em><a href="https://futurism.com/soft-robots-skin-automatically-heals">New Soft Robotic Skin Automatically Heals Itself, Even If You Shoot It Full Of Holes</a></em></strong></p>


Instead of ruining your paint job, your car could act like a big Etch-a-Sketch.

New self-repairing material could let you key your car just for fun

It's Alive

A new material harnesses photosynthesis to automatically plug holes and repair scratches with just air and sunlight. But it's not quite useful yet.

New Self-Repairing Material Could Let You Key Your Car Just for Fun

A new material regrows itself with air and sunlight by hijacking a plant's photosynthetic abilities.

<h2>Shorter Winters</h2>
<p>Those who don&#8217;t want to take action to stop climate change like to <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/climate-skeptics-want-more-co2/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">point out</a> its supposed benefits &#8211; in particular, the idea that plants will grow faster and stronger on a warmer, more carbon dioxide-rich planet. Climate change affects food production in ways that will help us, they assert.</p>
<p>Now that spring has sprung about <a href="https://www.usanpn.org/data/spring" target="_blank" rel="noopener">20 days early</a> in the U.S. two years in a row, you&#8217;d think we&#8217;d start seeing those benefits reflected in agriculture. However, it&#8217;s <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2018/02/27/spring-is-running-20-days-early-its-exactly-what-we-expect-but-its-not-good/?utm_term=.4cbfb227056b" target="_blank" rel="noopener">not quite that simple</a>.</p>
<p>As summarized in the most recent <a href="https://science2017.globalchange.gov/chapter/10/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Climate Science Special Report</a>, produced by the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), a number of factors influence plant productivity. Climate change affects food, true, but not necessarily in a positive way.</p>
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<p>Surprisingly, shorter winters can actually limit plant growth, as some plants require a long winter to go dormant and <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature15402" target="_blank" rel="noopener">regain energy for leaf unfolding</a> in the spring. Short winters can also leave plants more vulnerable to late-season frosts. They emerge from dormancy and begin preparing for warm weather, and then they can&#8217;t survive <a href="https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/58/3/253/230872" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a surprise cold spell</a>.</p>
<p>Finally, even if the winter season is warmer and spring comes sooner, climate change doesn&#8217;t affect how far the Earth is from the Sun. The planet still won&#8217;t have high enough light levels for some plants to perform effective photosynthesis during those abnormally warm days.</p>
<h2>Not All Bad. But Mostly.</h2>
<p>That being said, the link between warmer temperatures, CO2, and plant productivity isn&#8217;t imaginary. Previous studies suggest that elevated CO2 levels combined with higher temperatures have contributed to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nclimate3004" target="_blank" rel="noopener">global &#8220;greening&#8221;</a> and do <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature13207" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lengthen the growing season</a>. Yet the downsides of those effects may outweigh their benefits.</p>
<p>Climate change is expected to make <a href="https://futurism.com/stick-our-climate-goals-paris-agreement-deliver-drier-world/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">extreme drought</a> and very <a href="https://futurism.com/by-2100-climate-change-driven-heatwaves-could-threaten-74-of-the-population/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">high temperatures</a> more regular occurrences, so insufficient water and high heat could hamstring agriculture.</p>
<p>Indeed, <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/323/5911/240.full" target="_blank" rel="noopener">when researchers</a> blended historical trends with future climate models, they found a greater than 90 percent chance that temperatures during growing seasons in the tropics and subtropics will be higher by the end of the 21st century than the most extreme temperatures from the previous century.</p>
<p>The planet is also experiencing <a href="https://futurism.com/climate-change-forest-fires-cost-huge/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">more frequent wildfires</a> due to climate change, which can destroy agricultural fields. There&#8217;s also evidence that even if more CO2 boosts plant productivity, it could simultaneously <a href="https://futurism.com/climate-change-could-be-making-our-food-less-nutritious/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">make our food less nutritious</a>.</p>
<p><iframe width="500" height="375" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wGdX6-33cx4?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>All of these apparent contradictions on how climate change affects food production have given scientists plenty to study.</p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s still a major scientific research area to figure out when and where the CO2 effects versus the climate change effects will dominate,&#8221; William Anderegg, a University of Utah expert on forests and climate change, <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/climate-skeptics-want-more-co2/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told </a><i><a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/climate-skeptics-want-more-co2/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Scientific American</a></i>.</p>
<p>Still, the scientific community is in general agreement on one thing, according to Anderegg: &#8220;[O]n the whole, I think there&#8217;s a general understanding that the impacts of climate change are materializing sooner and are more severe than they were a decade or two ago.&#8221; He emphasized that scientists are working to figure out how the planet&#8217;s many inputs fit together and prepare the green world for its future.</p>


The supposed benefit of climate change probably isn’t a benefit at all.

Spring might come earlier, but food shortages will still happen

Earth & Energy

Climate change affects food production by lengthening growing seasons, but shorter winters can do more harm than good in some instances.

Spring Might Come Earlier, but Food Shortages Will Still Happen

Longer growing seasons don't necessarily mean more crops. 

<p>China has an air pollution problem. But recently the country has worked to improve its air quality and reduce emissions. In 2017, China <a href="https://futurism.com/china-shut-40-factories-stand-pollution/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">elected to shut down 40 percent of its factories</a>, and announced plans <a href="https://futurism.com/china-is-working-on-a-timetable-to-ban-the-production-and-sale-of-non-electric-cars/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">to ban diesel-powered cars</a>. In 2018, it <a href="https://futurism.com/worlds-biggest-smog-tower-offers-hope-polluted-megacities-china/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">became home to the world&#8217;s largest smog tower</a> that is capable of reducing nearby air pollution by 15 percent.</p>
<p>Now, China is <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/china-tree-plant-soldiers-reassign-climate-change-global-warming-deforestation-a8208836.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">proceeding with a new plan</a>: planting trees — 84,000 square kilometers (32,400 square miles) of them, to be exact.</p>
<p>Currently, China has roughly 208 million hectares of forested area. Throughout 2018, the country hopes increase its total forest coverage from 21 percent to 23 percent, and tasked roughly 60,000 soldiers to handle the job, <a href="http://www.atimes.com/article/china-re-assigning-60000-troops-plant-trees//" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to </a><i><a href="http://www.atimes.com/article/china-re-assigning-60000-troops-plant-trees//" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Asia Times</a></i>. A regiment of the People’s Liberation Army, as well as the nation’s armed police force, have been pulled from their posts on the northern border for the project. <i><a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/china-tree-plant-soldiers-reassign-climate-change-global-warming-deforestation-a8208836.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Independent</a></i><a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/china-tree-plant-soldiers-reassign-climate-change-global-warming-deforestation-a8208836.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> reports</a> that Zhang Jianlong, head of China&#8217;s State Forestry Administration, said the country&#8217;s total forest coverage could reach as high as 26 percent in less than two decades.</p>
<p>Most of the troops are being dispatched to the heavily-polluted Hebei province near Beijing — one of the biggest contributors to the country&#8217;s smog problem. The province pledged to increase its forest coverage to 35 percent by 2020.</p>
<p><iframe width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2nFZaSbkf0U?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>While it&#8217;s reassuring to see China take its air pollution issues so seriously, it&#8217;s unlikely that additional trees will solve the problem. China&#8217;s forest coverage is already at 21 percent, and the country still has a significant amount of smog.</p>
<p>While an additional two percent of forest will certainly help, it probably won&#8217;t change China&#8217;s air quality all that much. Not on its own, anyway; but that&#8217;s where other endeavors like the aforementioned diesel car ban and push for <a href="https://futurism.com/china-new-world-leader-renewable-energy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">renewable energy</a> come into play.</p>
<p>Air pollution has major impacts <a href="https://futurism.com/researchers-find-pollution-biggest-global-threat-human-health/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">on human health</a>, and countries like China would do well to reduce national levels sooner than later.</p>


Air pollution has major impacts on human health.

China will plant 32,400 square miles of trees to combat air pollution

China has tasked 60,000 soldiers to increase the country's total forest coverage in an attempt to combat its serious air pollution problem.

China Will Plant 32,400 Square Miles of Trees to Combat Air Pollution

China has tasked nearly 60,000 soldiers to handle the job.

<h2>Mapping Senses</h2>
<p>Plants may lack our facial features, but the fact that they don&#8217;t have eyes, ears, or noses has not stopped them from developing ways to see, hear, and smell potential threats around them. While plants&#8217; sensory processes are complex and mysterious, <a href="https://phys.org/news/2018-01-breakthrough-world.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a new study</a> mapping out protein interactions has given researchers new insights.</p>
<p>Rather than growing sensory organs like mammals do, plants use <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK26878/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">proteins that are stationed at their cells&#8217; outer membranes</a> to detect chemicals around them or the proteins from pathogens or hormones released from another organism. These detections will trigger a warning signal into the cell. The focus of the study, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature25184" target="_blank" rel="noopener">published in </a><i><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature25184" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nature,</a> </i>was a type of membrane protein that are crucial to this process: leucine-rich repeat receptor kinases, or <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15066372" target="_blank" rel="noopener">LRR-receptor kinases</a>.</p>
<p><iframe width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Xm5i53eiMkU?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>There are hundreds of varieties of LRR-receptor kinases that contribute to plant&#8217;s development, growth, and immunity, as well as its ability to responded to different stresses. Our understanding of how all of these proteins work together has been very limited, but this new research by an international team, including Shahid Mukhtar, Assistant Professor of Biology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, has mapped out the interactions of 200 of these proteins.</p>
<p>“This is a pioneering work to identify the first layer of interactions among these proteins,” Mukhtar <a href="https://www.uab.edu/news/research/item/9050-breakthrough-study-shows-how-plants-sense-the-world" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said in a press release</a>. “An understanding of these interactions could lead to ways to increase a plant’s resistance to pathogens, or to other stresses like heat, drought, salinity or cold shock. This can also provide a roadmap for future studies by scientists around the world.”</p>
<h2>Interesting Interactions</h2>
<p>The researchers generated the map by cloning the LRR-receptor kinases&#8217; <a href="http://membranereceptors.com/membrane-receptors/domains/extracellular-domain/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">extracellular domains</a> (the parts that sense molecules outside of the cell), then tested them in pairs to see if they would interact. When the proteins did interact, they added the information to the protein network, which revealed that a few critical proteins acted as &#8220;master nodes&#8221; for sensory protein interaction. It also brought to light several previously unknown LRR-receptor kinases that seem to be key for plant sensory pathways.</p>
<p>The researchers confirmed their findings by engineering plants that did not have some of the proteins that were prominent in the network. These plants had impaired development and immune systems, underlining the importance of the identified proteins.</p>
<p>This new understanding of plant systems could help us genetically engineer heartier plants — and even plants that could be <a href="https://futurism.com/darpa-plants-spy-tech/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">used by the military as remote sensors</a>. Additionally, since humans have proteins that are structurally similar to LRR-receptor kinases, new information about plants&#8217; biological mechanisms could also <a href="https://futurism.com/genome-research-plants-human-disease/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">provide insight into certain human diseases</a>.</p>


Humans have proteins that are structurally similar to LRR-receptor kinases, so new insights into the biological mechanisms of plants could help us, too.

Researchers have mapped out how plants sense our world

Hard Science

In a new study, researchers mapped out the interactions of around 200 of the proteins essential to plants complex sensory processing.

Researchers Have Mapped Out How Plants Sense Our World

While the sensory processes of plants are complex and mysterious, researchers gleaned insights into 200 of the proteins involved.

<h2>Anesthetic Testing</h2>
<p>First used as an alternative to crude methods like alcohol in the 19th century, anesthetics have become a critical part of medical systems around the world. Currently, anesthetics are tested on animals, which is ethically questionable and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4594046/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">can produce ineffective results</a>. But one new study could forever change how we test these drugs. <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-12/oupu-aht120817.php">Researchers recently found that</a> plants respond to anesthetics the same way to that humans and animals do.</p>
<p>This research explored these effects in Mimosa leaves, pea tendrils, Venus flytraps, and sundew traps. When Venus flytraps were exposed to anesthetics, they stopped generating electrical signals; even when trigger hairs were touched, their traps stayed open. Similarly, pea tendrils were stuck into a spiraled shape upon exposure, and they completely stopped all autonomous movement. In all of these plant species, the anesthetic caused the plant to lose both autonomous and touch-based movement.</p>
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<p>This study has furthered our understanding of how exactly anesthetic affects living organisms and their functionality. Practically speaking, this could push scientists to test anesthetics in plants over animal models. This could be more cost-effective, <a href="https://futurism.com/animal-testing-isnt-working-but-better-alternatives-are-on-the-way/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">easier to control</a>, and more easily accessible.</p>
<h2>Plant Feelings</h2>
<p>To observe and measure the effects of anesthesia in the plants tested, researchers used three main tools: a single-lens reflex camera to capture plant organ movement throughout the anesthetic progression, confocal microscopy to analyze the movement of materials between cells, and a surface silver chrlodie electrode to record electrical signals. The results have been published in <em><a href="https://academic.oup.com/aob/advance-article/doi/10.1093/aob/mcx155/4722571">Annals of Botany</a></em>.</p>
<p>Importantly, the anesthetics used in this study had no structural similarities, showing that the plants&#8217; reactions were not coincidental or circumstantial. Rather, the study showed that anesthetics which work on humans and animals have the same effects in plants. The researchers themselves write that, because of this finding, &#8220;Plants emerge as ideal model objects to study general questions related to anaesthesia (sic), as well as to serve as a suitable test system for human anaesthesia.&#8221;</p>
<video loop autoplay mute><source src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2017/12/mcx155_suppl_supplementary_video_s02.mov" type="video/mp4"></video>
<p><span style="font-size: 14px">A researcher tests the effect of anesthetic on the plant <em>Mimosa pudica</em>, which normally closes its leaves when touched. (Video Credit: Yokawa et al)</span></p>
<p>This could make a huge difference in our understanding of anesthesia and testing methods going forward. While animal models have traditionally been seen as reliable and satisfactory for testing, there is a growing body of research which shows the glaring flaws in these experiments. Aside from any moral objections that some may have to the practice, animal models range from producing ineffective and inadequate data to <a href="http://www.indiana.edu/~p1013447/dictionary/anires2.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">being dangerously misleading</a>. This is most obvious in looking at <a class="" href="http://www.pcrm.org/research/healthcare-professionals/research-compendium/an-examination-of-animal-experiments" target="_blank" rel="noopener">20th-century</a><a href="http://www.pcrm.org/research/healthcare-professionals/research-compendium/an-examination-of-animal-experiments" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> smoking studies</a> that, using animal models, misled the public about the true dangers of smoking cigarettes.</p>
<p>This new finding is at the very least fascinating and, at the most, a possible door opening to improved testing methods. Whether other plant-based testing will become possible is yet to be determined, but this study very concretely shows the parallel effects of anesthesia in animals, humans, and plants. It is even within the realm of possibility that because of these new testing models, improved anesthetics will be developed.</p>


Anesthetics have become a critical part of medical systems around the world.

Scientists discover plants respond to anesthetics — which could end animal testing

Health & Medicine

Researchers have discovered that plants respond to anesthetics the same way that humans and animals do, opening potential avenues for drug testing.

Scientists Discover Plants Respond to Anesthetics — Which Could End Animal Testing

This finding could drastically change how we test drugs. 

<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Polio&#8217;s Last Days?</h2>
<p>Polio cases have <a href="http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs114/en/">decreased by over 99% since 1988</a>, but a recent breakthrough could lead to this disease&#8217;s elimination once and for all.</p>
<p>In an interesting way of using one virus to combat another, <a href="https://www.jic.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/2017/08/plant-produced-polio-vaccines-could-help-eradicate-age-old-disease/#" target="_blank">scientists at the John Innes Centre</a> in Norfolk, England, &#8220;hijacked&#8221; a relative of the tobacco plant, and used its own metabolism to turn its leaves into the leafy equivalent of polio vaccine factories. The end result is a virus that looks and acts like the polio virus, but technically isn&#8217;t; it has everything needed to train the body&#8217;s immune system, but nothing that can pass on the polio virus — which can cause an infected person to eventually become paralyzed or suffer from meningitis.</p>
<p>Scientists began this process by taking the genetic code used to make the outer layer of the polio virus, and combining it with material from various other virus known to effectively infect plants. From there, the resulting combination was inserted into soil bacteria, which then went on to infect tobacco. After the infection took hold, the plants responded to the newly made genetic code and began making the virus-like particles that would later be extracted.</p>
<p>When used in preliminary animal tests, the particles completed prevented polio from occurring.</p>
<p>Speaking to <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/health-40925343" target="_blank">BBC News</a>, John Innes Professor George Lomonossoff called the particles &#8220;incredibly good mimics.&#8221;</p>
<figure class="wp-caption">
<figure id="attachment_95918" style="width: 1000px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img class="size-full wp-image-95918" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2017/08/PoliovirusFigure3-002.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="799" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">A =  Virus-like particles (VLPs) in vitreous ice. B = Reconstruction of poliovirus. C = VLP showing empty internal surface. D and E = Resolutions of poliovirus. (Image Credit: John Innes Center)</figcaption></figure>
<h2>A Replacement for the Polio Vaccine</h2>
<p>The World Health Organization (WHO) has already provided funding towards this research, with the goal of using it to replace the polio vaccine still in use. Current polio vaccines utilize the actual polio virus, albeit a much subdued version; however, that poses a few risks, included its potential reintroduction into society.</p>
<p>The virus-like particles, and the process in which they were created, also aren&#8217;t exclusive to polio. There are plans to expand it to treat many other diseases, such as the flu, as well as <a href="https://futurism.com/gmos-led-the-fight-against-zika-and-ebola-and-they-will-combat-the-next-great-pandemic/">outbreaks of new diseases</a>. In theory, so long as the genetic code is available, as it was with polio, then a vaccine can be made.</p>
<p>&#8220;In an experiment with a Canadian company, they showed you could actually identify a new strain of virus and produce a candidate vaccine in three to four weeks,&#8221; Lomonossoff told the BBC. &#8220;It has potential for making vaccines against emerging epidemics, of course recently we had Zika and prior to that we had Ebola.&#8221;</p>
<p><img class="alignnone size-infographicListing wp-image-96071" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2017/08/vaccine-production-speed-600x674.png" alt="" width="600" height="674" /></p>
<p>Tinkering with plant machinery could also potentially yield other useful results, including <a href="https://futurism.com/bill-gates-artificial-photosynthesis-can-produce-clean-fuel-for-the-cars-of-tomorrow/">clean fuel for our vehicles</a> and <a href="https://futurism.com/genetically-modified-tomatoes-could-be-used-to-fight-diseases/">compounds to fight diseases</a>.</p>
<p>While Lomonossoff&#8217;s unique process provides a cheaper, more efficient way to make vaccines, there are still aspects to work out before its fully implemented; for example, whether using a tobacco plant will lead to a vaccine with nicotine in it, and in turn, create a nicotine craving.</p>
<p>Polio currently affects very few people — 37 cases were reported in 2016 — but the disease is so infectious that even a single case could be disastrous; that one case <a href="http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs114/en/">could lead to 200,000 new cases</a> every year within ten years. What is perhaps scariest about it is those infected may not even be aware of it; its symptoms include a sore throat, headache, or a fever, all of which are fairly common among less dangerous diseases.</p>
<p>The WHO estimates that, thanks to the global push to eradicate polio, more than 16 million people have been saved from paralysis. If there&#8217;s a way to eradicate it completely, it&#8217;s worth it.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</figure>


It looks like a polio virus and acts like a polio virus, but it was made in a plant.

Digitally generated image of 3D molecular model of polio virus

The new method out of the John Innes Centre creates a virus that looks and acts like the polio virus, but carries no risk of passing on the disease.

Plants Have Been “Hijacked” to Create a Vaccine — And it Could Eradicate Polio

Polio has been nearly eradicated, but it is still a potential threat.

<h2>Alien Plants</h2>
<p>The idea of discovering and studying alien life has tantalized scientists for centuries. Astronomers have been studying planets in the &#8220;Goldilocks Zone&#8221; — a distance from a sun in which water on a given planet is not constantly boiled off or frozen — for any sign of life, whether that be microbial or intelligent. But what would alien plant life look like given their planets&#8217; different<a href="http://www.space.com/36957-curious-kids-plants-goldilocks-zone.html"> sizes, atmospheres, and associated stars</a>?</p>
<figure style="width: 360px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="https://futurism.com/images/other-earths-the-best-exoplanet-candidates-for-life-infographic/"><img src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2016/08/HomeThumb-900x600.jpg" alt="Other Earths: The Best Exoplanet Candidates for Life [INFOGRAPHIC]" ></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text center"><strong><a href="https://futurism.com/images/other-earths-the-best-exoplanet-candidates-for-life-infographic/" target="_blank">Click to View Full Infographic</a></figcaption></strong></figure>
<p>If these planets happen to be smaller than Earth, any plants on them would be far taller and thinner. The plants would also probably have large leaves than Earth plants because the lower gravity would permit the stems to support more mass. If the planet was more massive than Earth, this might cause the plants to be shorter and broader with smaller leaves, as everything on the planet would be heavier.</p>
<p>A thin atmosphere would cause any breeze on the planet to be exceptionally weak — this would mean that, evolutionarily, the plants would not grow to be particularly robust and would be tall and thin. A thick atmosphere would produce plants that would have to be much thicker and closer to the ground in order to withstand the powerful winds.</p>
<p>Our plants are green in order to capture the blue and red light our Sun emits while reflecting the green light, which is minimal. Not all stars operate in this color spectrum, though. A star that emits a more green and blue light would likely produce plants that were bright red.</p>
<h2>TRAPPIST-1</h2>
<p>Given the potentially huge changes different environments could have on plants, a key aspect of planning for space exploration concerns accommodating for these changes. Interplanetary colonists will need to predict both what type of life we could find on these planets and how we would adapt to those environments.</p>
<p>Three potentially habitable planets are housed in the <a href="https://futurism.com/nasa-has-released-new-images-of-trappist-1s-earth-sized-planets/">TRAPPIST-1 planetary system</a>, which about 39 light years away from Earth and is home to seven Earth-sized planets in total. The TRAPPIST-1 star is called an &#8216;ultracool dwarf star&#8217; — it is  around the same size as Jupiter, and is much cooler and dimmer than our sun.</p>
<p><img src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2017/06/Trappist-Goldilocks-zone.png" alt="[Taken] Plants in the ‘Goldilocks Zone’" /></p>
<p>This means all seven planets circle their sun at a closer proximity than Mercury circles ours, making orbits and therefore years extremely short — <a href="http://www.space.com/35811-life-on-trappist-1-earth-like-exoplanets.html">One year would be about two </a><a href="http://www.space.com/35811-life-on-trappist-1-earth-like-exoplanets.html">Earth</a> <a href="http://www.space.com/35811-life-on-trappist-1-earth-like-exoplanets.html">weeks</a>. This also means planets get hit by<a href="https://futurism.com/new-evidence-has-emerged-on-the-potential-for-life-in-the-trappist-system/"> solar flares frequently</a>, which is something that may hinder life.</p>
<p>The nature of the TRAPPIST-1 star means that it emits mostly infrared heat, capable of warming the air on the surface of the planet, but causing it to be much dimmer than we are used to. Plants that evolved in this system would have bigger leaves to capture as much of the light possible and may have developed a method to convert infrared radiation into energy.</p>
<p>This alien plant life would most likely grow on only one side of their host planets because the <a href="https://futurism.com/4-is-there-alien-life-on-trappist-1-exoplanets/">planets in the system are &#8216;tidally locked&#8217;</a> — which means only one side ever faces the sun. But wherever we find alien plant life, and whatever it looks like, the discovery will cause major advances in our understanding of botany, and of life itself.</p>


As we explore our galaxy for planets that may host alien life, scientists imagine how different features of a planet would impact the plant life there.

/Plants

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