A graduate student Julian Melchiorri created the first man-made biological leaf. That has the ability to absorb water and carbon dioxide to produce oxygen just like a plant. Julian did this by suspending chloroplasts in a mixture made out of silk protein.
He believed it can be used for several things, but the most incredible one is the thought that it could be used for long-distance space travel. Plants do not grow in space, but this synthetic material can be used to produce oxygen in a hostile environment.
The silk Leaf is composed of chloroplasts suspended in silk proteins, for the express purpose of long-distance space travel. He says; plants don’t grow in zero gravity. Therefore, “NASA is researching diverse ways to create oxygen for long-distance space journeys to let us live in space.
This material could allow us to explore space much further than we can now. This incredible finished product functions as a plant in the sense that it is biological and produces oxygen, but its synthetic packaging makes it more likely to be able to survive in extraterrestrial environments.
Interestingly just like a real plant, it only requires light and water to survive and photosynthesize: Silk Leaf is the first man-made biological leaf, and it is very light, low energy-consuming, and entirely biological. Therefore, it is really very convenient and can extend even further, as making lamps out of Silk Leaf kills two birds with one stone.
My idea was to increase the efficiency of nature in a man-made environment. I created some lighting out of this material, using the light to illuminate the house but at the same time to create oxygen for us.
