[TechSpot] Artificial plant purifies indoor air and doubles as a power source for small electronics (beats real plants and traditional purifiers)

[Space Lynx]

This is legitimately fascinating, I expect all of us will have one of these in our house within a few years.

Artificial plant purifies indoor air and doubles as a power source for small electronics

Scientists at Binghamton University, New York, created an artificial plant with innovative green capabilities while experimenting with biological solar cells. The team discovered that their experiment was...

www.techspot.com

The device can remove 90 percent of indoor carbon dioxide, reducing CO2 levels from 5,000 ppm to 500 ppm. In comparison, biological plants achieve only a 10 percent CO2 reduction. This technology can significantly improve air quality while also producing enough bioelectricity to power portable electronics.

 

[Beginner Macro Device]

Nah. Won't use it in the place I'm populating most often, meaning my home. Getting used to abysmal CO2 levels makes me susceptible and vulnerable in suboptimal locations. Just like treating every single cough with antibiotics leads to AB-resistant strains and immunodeficite.

Might prove useful in garages where you breathe every sort of crap though. And charging screwdrivers will come in handy, too.

 

[Space Lynx]

If it becomes commercially available I will get one for my room, higher oxygen ratio is probably a good thing for longevity. That's why billionaires sleep in oxygen chambers, but we can't afford that, so this is the next best thing.

 

[Princess Garnet]

I already have a lot of fake plants everywhere, so I'm already there! I just need to... figure the air purifying and electricity generating parts out.

 

[Space Lynx]

I already have a lot of fake plants everywhere, so I'm already there! I just need to... figure the air purifying and electricity generating parts out.

You have to water these artificial plants to feed the Cyanobacteria, that's where the magic happens. It really is quite fascinating imo

I wonder if this will help space travel and space settlements someday?

 

[AsRock]

Open a window and have some real plants.

 

[Beginner Macro Device]

Open a window

In ghettos and other suspicious activity centres it's ill-advised to do so, especially if you live on the ground floor.

 

[natr0n]

I have many real huge plants in my house and change the AC filter every 1-2 months you cant beat that.

 

[AsRock]

In ghettos and other suspicious activity centres it's ill-advised to do so, especially if you live on the ground floor.

Don't open a window then, but still have plants as you should be able afford that if your buying this trash. And a lot of those kinda places are common to have bars.

Well depending on the price of these fake plants will they not just get stolen ?.

 

[TumbleGeorge]

maximum power output of 140µW.

What device will charge with so small output?

 

[JWNoctis]

In reductionist terms, this seemed like a roundabout way of saying "Cyanobacteria can photosynthesize". Wait for a version that does the reaction without the biological byproducts and fuss and in a practical way. I think there were quite many biological life support experiments on the ISS, even though the station itself does not run on it.

The article also failed to mention that the prototype device reduced CO2 concentration from 5,000ppm to 500ppm, in 12 hours of light, in a test chamber of 16"x11"x12". While it might be all that the average person could afford in, say, New York, it might be kind of hard to fit inside.

 

[A Computer Guy]

So I have a question. If you leave this fake plant on for a few weeks in a small room, go on vacation for a few weeks, when you get back will the room be oversaturated with O2 and explode when you come back and turn the light on?

 

[AusWolf]

I wonder if this will help space travel and space settlements someday?

It won't. The problem with space is the complete lack of oxygen, and the presence of a myriad of other materials that aren't useful (or are downright harmful) to living organisms, not CO2. Not to mention extreme temperatures, radiation, distance in both space and time, etc, but those are different topics.

Nah. Won't use it in the place I'm populating most often, meaning my home. Getting used to abysmal CO2 levels makes me susceptible and vulnerable in suboptimal locations. Just like treating every single cough with antibiotics leads to AB-resistant strains and immunodeficite.

Exactly my thoughts. Solution to a problem that nobody's ever had.

 

[Shihab]

It's funny. You'd think people throwing around terms like "global warming" and "pollution" would be aware of the concept of "externalities." But hey, gotta milk those hypochondriacs!

Getting used to abysmal CO2 levels makes me susceptible and vulnerable in suboptimal locations. Just like treating every single cough with antibiotics leads to AB-resistant strains and immunodeficite.

I know this works for fish and neighbours, but humans?
A mollusk wouldn't care much if it dropped a few IQ points, but I'm pretty sure you do...

 

[Beginner Macro Device]

A mollusk wouldn't care much if it dropped a few IQ points, but I'm pretty sure you do...

Losing my mind is my ONLY fear so go figure.

 

[Endymio]

I got a particularly good chuckle out of this bit from the article:

Indoor CO2 [is] is becoming a growing health concern, particularly as "traditional" air filtration methods lose their effectiveness due to global warming and pollution.....

Indoor CO2 levels are increasing because of tightened building efficiency codes -- largely due to global warming concerns -- that prevent air exchange with the outside atmosphere. This doesn't just raise indoor CO2 levels to the (potentially) 5,000+ ppm danger level, but also is the root cause of "sick building" syndrome.

If it becomes commercially available I will get one for my room, higher oxygen ratio is probably a good thing for longevity. That's why billionaires sleep in oxygen chambers,

Hyperbaric chamber therapy is -- barring a few specific conditions -- a baseless fad. Too much O2 is as bad as too little. Oxygen is a deadly poison: our bodies developed hemoglobin specifically to shield the rest of human tissue from its oxidizing effects.

 

[Shihab]

Reminds me of this sad joke:

 

[Beertintedgoggles]

Hyperbaric chamber therapy is -- barring a few specific conditions -- a baseless fad. Too much O2 is as bad as too little. Oxygen is a deadly poison: our bodies developed hemoglobin specifically to shield the rest of human tissue from its oxidizing effects.

There's a bit too much research out there on hyperbaric oxygen therapy for me to agree that it's mearly a fad or baseless. Additionally, it's not just the increased oxygen levels that make it effective but the increased atmospheric pressure in the chamber. Don't get me wrong, it's not a cure-all for everything and I'm sure there are places that will push for its use as much as possible to make back their money on the machine they purchased but for it to be baseless.... there sure are a lot of medical clinics with their reputation on the line that offer it.

 

[Devon68]

I killed a cactus, if it can survive me I'm interested

 

[Endymio]

There's a bit too much research out there on hyperbaric oxygen therapy for me to agree that it's mearly a fad or baseless. .... there sure are a lot of medical clinics with their reputation on the line that offer it.

I don't know of any peer-reviewed research or reputable clinics that offer the treatment, except for very specific conditions-- a far different matter than regularly sleeping in one "just because".

There are also many uncommon but possible contraindications and side effects, everything from accelerated cataract formation to worsening of congestive heart failure to grand mal seizures:

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www.liebertpub.com

 

[Beertintedgoggles]

I don't know of any peer-reviewed research or reputable clinics that offer the treatment, except for very specific conditions-- a far different matter than regularly sleeping in one "just because".

There are also many uncommon but possible contraindications and side effects, everything from accelerated cataract formation to worsening of congestive heart failure to grand mal seizures:

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www.liebertpub.com

Mayo Clinic
UC San Diego Health
University of Michigan Health
Johns Hopkins (they at least offer links to find treatment centers)
There's a lot more but just showing it's not exactly a smoke enema. Does it get prescribed or pushed for instances where its effectiveness is just snake oil.... likely. However, just because a treatment comes with side effects doesn't discredit it outright.

 

[Endymio]

(links omitted)
There's a lot more but just showing it's not exactly a smoke enema.

Did you read your links before posting them? None offer it as a regular regimen, generalized health improver, or for anything but a treatment for very specific medical conditions. The Mayo Clinic will remove a spleen or segment of brain tissue too -- but not just because you tell them you hope it might make you feel better. Your statement is like telling the general population to take narcotic painkillers or cancer immunosuppressant drugs on a daily basis just as they might vitamins.

And yes -- when treatments come with serious side effects, one should NOT take them "just for the hell of it".

 

[FoulOnWhite]

Would be great for space staition if it does work from artificial light. It's a pretty ground breaking discovery/invention

 

[Beertintedgoggles]

Those were in response to reputable clinics that offer the treatment. I can link to clinical studies as well if that's what you want, doesn't take much searching for them. And no where had I argued it was to be used as a generalized health improver; I had thought that we were both in agreement that its use case scenario was for specific conditions.

 

[Space Lynx]

Would be great for space staition if it does work from artificial light. It's a pretty ground breaking discovery/invention

or if nothing else, maybe it will give some other scientists some ideas on how to branch out innovative/creative filtration systems

it seems great ideas tend to branch off other ideas, so hopefully this jogs the brain of some other scientists. I think this will be the benefit of advanced AI in a couple years too, being able to ask it a lot of hypotheticals to help design new creative ideas that lead to breakthroughs in various fields. at the end of the day humans are just a large language model, language is how we navigate every single day of our lives at all levels, even the taste of food gets converted to language in the process of searching, preparing, and consuming it. so it seems to me a large language model with all knowledge in a solid state drive could indeed take us to another level.