A small American start-up company recently raised nearly half a million dollars through the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter in order to use synthetic biology to create “sustainable natural lighting” – plants that glow in the dark. According to the pitch, councils could make major savings by planting luminescent trees instead of paying for street lamps.
Or at least that’s the long-term vision.
Abstract:
While synthetic biology promises benefits such as glow-in-the dark trees that replace city lights, there are many more sinister applications that have many people worried.