A crash course in changing the world.
luciferase bacteria
there are night lights on in friends' rooms. constantly on. a slow, steady, painful trickle of energy leak from each one.
so a buddy and i went down to the lab and cultured everyone a couple plates of luciferase bacteria!
this means they glow in the dark as they metabolize. the bacteria use quorum sensing to activate their little glow enzymes, so when a big enough cluster of them grow emerge... bling!
they aren't that bright, more like a faint smear of stars across the culture plate. but a big plate gets a decent enough glow on and its so nifty no one uses their night lights anymore :)
(disclaimer: all bacteria were rigorously tested for for nasty side effects through the scientifically sounds technique of smearing them on the back of my hand. hey, it's my lab, no one tells me how to do science)
Views: 8
Tags: bacteria, energy, science, transgenics
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Comment by Cornelia Harper Tang on March 19, 2010 at 11:14pm -
Very cool post! that reminds me of ancient Chinese who used to capture fireflies for reading lights.
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Comment by Rahul Dewanjee on March 19, 2010 at 11:36pm -
this is an excellent breakthrough which can be manifested through commercial products where the requirement of light is sub-optimal....sometimes people just keeps their room lights switched on even if they are not physically present...for their religious beliefs....
if you go to a Hindu residence in some parts (or should I say most parts depending on a number of factors), we will find that there is a propensity of keeping a dim light on in the prayer room...it comes from a belief that idols of the Almighty should never be kept in absolute darkness at night. now those that believe in the Almighty, there is always a sense of guilt to keep a 5 watt bulb on in the prayer room.
Now if you magnify this act for 10 percent of the 600 million people who can come be potentially doing this practice of not keeping their prayer room pitch dark, we are talking of an awful amount of wastage of electricity per hour for an average of 7 hours of sleep at night at least....
I see a potential product application emerging out from this scientific breakthrough: Keeping alight sub-optimally illuminated spaces to balance belief with reason through design thinking.
Can little savings per person in a land of billion people means any...
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Comment by Rahul Dewanjee on March 19, 2010 at 11:36pm
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worth +1 for Vision
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Comment by Cornelia Harper Tang on March 19, 2010 at 11:39pm
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@Rahul, yeah you are right, I remember how my hindu neighbors has an alter in a small room and the lights are always turned on. is it possible to use candles?
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Comment by Robert Hawkins on March 20, 2010 at 12:06am -
Fantastic idea. Is this the new chia pet with a bacteria fishtank in everyone's bedroom?
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Comment by Rahul Dewanjee on March 20, 2010 at 12:19am
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Yes Cornelia. But burning candles could also mean acquiring negative carbon footprints apart from the fact that the prices are constantly hitting north.
Robert is bang on with another application: fish aquariums need sub-optimal lighting as well. Thanks.
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Comment by Brian Ballsun-Stanton on March 20, 2010 at 2:06am -
Is this an aerobic process? How do you maintain the culture? How do you contain them?
Optimally, you could seal them in a nice glass tube with a complimenting colony of ... something. (Sorry, this isn't my primary area of expertise) If you could work out some way of recharging the foodstock, this could be a really really handy emergency light.
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Comment by Murray Sterley on March 20, 2010 at 6:13am
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This is classic, innovation to save energy!
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Comment by Rahul Dewanjee on March 20, 2010 at 7:02am
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The link above was not working. So I have added it here again. Regret the inconvenience above.
CLICK BELOW
Can little savings per person in a land of billion people means any...
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Comment by Per Jonsson on March 20, 2010 at 9:08am -
Hey good work! Go creative science!
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