Glow-in-the-dark trees could be the future of street lighting

Algae holds the secret

Bioluminescence.
(Image credit: Mikal Schlosser)

Each week, we spotlight a cool innovation recommended by some of the industry's top tech writers. This week's pick is bioluminescent trees.

"Imagine a city lit by glowing trees instead of streetlights," said Adele Peters at Fast Company​. Beachgoers in San Diego were recently treated to the rare natural phenomenon of a bioluminescent algae bloom, making the ocean glow "an electric shade of blue" at night. Researchers in Denmark are attempting to isolate the genes that make such microalgae glow to see whether trees could be genetically engineered with the genes in order to make natural streetlights.

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