Science Home News in Science Features Explore ... Play Print Email to a friend Bugs make furniture glow in the dark Anna Salleh ABC Science Online
Thursday, 20 May 2004
Deep Green, the organism generator, which could double as a light source. Click HERE to view a video of the generator in action (in AVI format, 5.37 MB) (Image: J Nicholson and K Takayama) Prototypes of futuristic domestic furniture that glow with the light of communicating bacteria have been produced as result of an unusual collaboration.
Australian microbiologist Dr Kathy Takayama and visual artist John Nicholson of the University of New South Wales have just launched their exhibit at the Canberra Contemporary Art Space
The exhibit is designed to show off a unique use for bioluminescing bacteria, bacteria that produce light as a result of an oxidation process.
First there is an "organism generator" dubbed Deep Green that would contain a super colony of the bioluminescing bacteria to power other items in the home, like the light-emitting chair called the "jellyfish lounge".
The furniture is designed to rely on light produced by two species of bacteria from the genus Vibrio , the same genus as cholera bacteria. But unlike cholera | |
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