Last month a gaggle of science publications reported that researchers had devised a way to harness the light from fireflies using nanotechnology. As a lifelong firefly enthusiast, I simply could not believe that the crepuscular creature of my childhood would now be opening the gateway for bioluminescence in consumer products as well as enhanced, energy-efficient technology.
But it was, and is, true.
The efficiency and lambency of firefly bioluminescence has long attracted the curiosity of scientists. This curiosity, coupled with advances in ‘quantum nanorods,’ paved the way for a team of researchers from Syracuse University to conduct a full-scale experiment “manipulating the interface between the biological and non-biological components.”
Led by Mathew Maye, an assistant professor at Syracuse, the researchers discovered a way to harness the bioluminescence of fireflies. They did so by using the nanorods to manually introduce fireflies’ naturally occurring enzymes. More specifically, the scientists simulated the chemical reaction fireflies create by combining luciferin to the enzyme luciferase. The resulting glow is called Bioluminescence Resonance Energy Transfer, or BRET for short. Fireflies are known to have the most potent BRET levels of any species on Earth, including the remarkable deep sea jellyfish we typically associate with bioluminescence.
The quantum nanorods—which contain an inner nucleus of cadmium seleneide surrounded by an outer shell of cadmium sulfide—are being credited with the success of the experiment, as well as the ability to produce color variations not possible with normal fireflies. Indeed, the findings could lead to consumer products that are lit by multicolor nodes of light that don’t need batteries or electricity.
More importantly, the experiment underscores the power of nanotechnology in bridging the biological world with the computational one. The firefly could be used to assist in everything from infrared technology, night vision goggles and telescopes to cameras and medical imaging. The more long term hope is that this nanorod technology could be used to replace LEDs and generate bioluminescent, renewable, energy-less lighting for products and possibly homes and businesses too.
This is not surprising to many scientists who have been trumpeting the potential of nanotechnology for years, even decades. The pace of innovation in the nanotech industry has been nothing less than stunning. Just in the past two years researchers have made significant advances with regard to some of the biggest questions in the field: synthetic neurochemical synapses, which could someday lead to artificial minds; internal nanofactories, which could deliver vital medicines; ‘quantum dots’, which could be used to locate and destroy errant microbes; nanoscaffolding for our bones; and eternally stretching graphene that would revolutionize construction and transportation no less comprehensively than steel and steam power.
In the meantime, the use of nanotechnology to extract bioluminescent properties from fireflies will produce a separate, equally interesting, experiment to see which industry is able to package and wield the application first: manufacturers of consumer products or entrepreneurial energy providers.
It seems quite possible that the nostalgia we once shared for fireflies glowing in the summer night may nourish a bright new future for both consumer electronics and renewable energy.
Image 2: Quantum nanorods created with luciferase glow orange. Courtesy of Syracuse University
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