OFF THE RECORD

The Science Behind This Leaf Is Going To Change Everything On Earth… And A Few Things On Mars

Scientist Julian Melchiorri created the world’s first man-made, fully working and breathing, leaves. It might be a major key in making Mars an easier and friendlier place to live, since these leaves will make oxygen easier to come by. Not only does it work like a regular leaf, but research shows it’s possible for it to be 49% more efficient. All it needs is a little sunlight and water to work.

The leaf uses a special silk material that makes it possible for chloroplasts to live and do their thing, and chloroplasts are where the magic of turning CO2 into oxygen happens. Chloroplasts become the engine of the leaves that only need CO2 and sunlight as ‘fuel’ to run, and emits oxygen as its ‘waste.’ The engine’s process is called photosynthesis, and the chloroplasts of a leaf is where photosynthesis happens. The fact that these silky things can actually carry out the process of photosynthesis with such little effort is what makes them so incredible and useful.

These are silk fibers used to make the leaf.

This is what the silk leaves look like before actually looking like ‘leaves.’

Chloroplasts are extracted from regular plants.

Then, they’re added to the silk material.

The result is a fully breathing man-made leaf.

“It’s very light, low energy consuming, and completely biological.”

Melchiorri also created some stylish indoor lighting with the material.

Imagine what our cities would look like if it could be used in Façade design.

Melchiorri also believes they could be used in air filtration systems on Mars.

Watch the video:

This might also be a solution to Earth’s global warming issue. What do you think?

Sources used: dezeen.com, Photos

Originally written by Nick and published on Life Buzz

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