Beautiful circuits: Dawn of the cyborg rose
http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2015/11...yborg-rose
Researchers at Linköping University in Sweden have merged electronic circuitry with the vascular system of living plants for the very first time. [...] It took several tries and different combinations, but when the scientists soaked the roses in a PEDOT derivative called PEDOT-S:H, small wires with an electronic charge began to form along the roses’ xylems, or vascular tissues. Next, the researchers used vacuum technology to apply a different PEDOT derivative, called PEDOTSS–NFC, to the roses' leaves. Once the leaves were filled with the electrically conductive material, the researchers tested whether or not the roses' leaves could or would change color electronically, in the same way that the petals of a white flower will change color when its stem is placed in pink or orange-colored water. They succeeded. The scientists discovered that plants are capable of carrying an electric charge, and a fairly stable one at that....
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Study Demonstrates that Taste Is in the Brain
http://www.hhmi.org/news/study-demonstrates-taste-brain
EXCERPT: Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) researchers at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and their colleagues have shown that they can control whether mice perceive a taste as bitter or sweet by activating two small areas of the brain. The findings are a step toward understanding how the brain integrates the flood of information from our senses to create what we experience as reality. [...] “These results illustrate that by manipulating the brain centers representing sweet and bitter taste it is possible to directly control an animal’s internal representation, sensory perception, and behavioral actions,” says [Yueqing] Peng.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2015/11...yborg-rose
Researchers at Linköping University in Sweden have merged electronic circuitry with the vascular system of living plants for the very first time. [...] It took several tries and different combinations, but when the scientists soaked the roses in a PEDOT derivative called PEDOT-S:H, small wires with an electronic charge began to form along the roses’ xylems, or vascular tissues. Next, the researchers used vacuum technology to apply a different PEDOT derivative, called PEDOTSS–NFC, to the roses' leaves. Once the leaves were filled with the electrically conductive material, the researchers tested whether or not the roses' leaves could or would change color electronically, in the same way that the petals of a white flower will change color when its stem is placed in pink or orange-colored water. They succeeded. The scientists discovered that plants are capable of carrying an electric charge, and a fairly stable one at that....
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Study Demonstrates that Taste Is in the Brain
http://www.hhmi.org/news/study-demonstrates-taste-brain
EXCERPT: Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) researchers at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and their colleagues have shown that they can control whether mice perceive a taste as bitter or sweet by activating two small areas of the brain. The findings are a step toward understanding how the brain integrates the flood of information from our senses to create what we experience as reality. [...] “These results illustrate that by manipulating the brain centers representing sweet and bitter taste it is possible to directly control an animal’s internal representation, sensory perception, and behavioral actions,” says [Yueqing] Peng.