Light without electricity? Glowing algae could make it possible

https://www.colorado.edu/today/2026/05/06/light-without-electricity-glowing-algae-could-make-it-possible

by geox • 3 months ago

111 38 3 months ago

colorado.edu

ceejayoz2• 2 months ago

This feels like weird framing. They still need energy to produce it.

I have a genetically engineered luminescent petunia plant. It’s neat, but a ways off from being useful for anything.

aetherspawn• 2 months ago

Wow.. this is maybe the plant for anyone interested: https://light.bio/

ceejayoz2• 2 months ago

That's the one, yeah.

contingencies• 2 months ago

Mushrooms too. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omphalotus_nidiformis

perrygeo• 2 months ago

Super strange framing.

The plant still need solar energy. They still need electricity within the tissues of the organism to survive (ATP and krebs cycle). Humans have always burned organic matter for light.

Not trying to be a pedant but "Light without electricity" falls down when examined from any angle. It's not a serious claim.

cassianoleal• 2 months ago

So can torches and candles.

dullcrisp• 2 months ago

The sun?

m3kw9• 2 months ago

good for car dashboards, maybe for not vital areas

Razengan2• 2 months ago

I don’t want algae on my vital areas

rini17• 2 months ago

Good? You would need the dashboard climate controlled all the time otherwise the algae gets sterilised in the sun. On the other hand, if you park underground all day, must provide light otherwise it dies. Either way it will eat your battery in no time.

Such an idea might be a good startup pitch for gullible investors but won't survive clash with reality.

walrus01• 2 months ago

It rather resembles the CGI protomolecule from 'The Expanse'.

hoerensagen• 2 months ago

It is also relevant to something from the last three books, which haven't made it onto TV yet.

sandworm101• 2 months ago

Why all the bother with 3d-printed gel shapes? Why not just use a mat of these things, all glowing, and then put it behind an LCD panel. Then you can have moving pictures without all the bother of 3d printing.

Then you can take the next step and both their apparent output further by replacing the algae with tiny blue LED modules.

kiba• 2 months ago

I think it's fine for research, curiosity, aesthetic and coolness factor. Not everything need to be 'practical'.

Razengan2• 2 months ago

Technically [nerd emoji] nothing is possible without electricity

(No I don’t go to any parties)

card_zero3• 2 months ago

Because these algae are photosynthetic ... "We’re storing carbon while we’re producing light"

The circle of light! Perpetual illumination! Let the algae do photosynthesis using their own light output as energy!

What's happening, chemically? Let's see ... it's luciferin. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Luciferin_Light_Emission_... Isn't that CO2 being emitted on the right, there?

shellfishgene• 2 months ago

I think they mean the algae is in sunlight during the day and growing, producing light only at night.

card_zero3• 2 months ago

Could be. So over the mentioned four weeks, the algae is reproducing more cells in sunlight, and emitting light at night, while gradually wearing out in some way and "retaining 75% of their brightness". Then at the end of the month you have a bucket of tired algae, and that's the stored carbon. I don't know what you do with it. You probably shouldn't chuck it in a river. Its likely fate is methane, wherever you put it.

technotony• 2 months ago

I hope this works. A decade ago I submitted glowing microbes to the epa but they blocked it. My read from going through that was that it was politically impossible. Hopefully times have changed.

Edit: my microbes were gmo, these are not, so no epa rules. Good luck to them!

arthurcolle• 2 months ago

did you keep a few of your gmo cultures?

mock-possum• 2 months ago

What are the politics of glowing microbes?

ASalazarMX• 2 months ago

I've heard it's a cultural problem, too sterile.

Scroll_Swe• 2 months ago

Modern LED lights really draw no power at all in the grand scheme of things

quickthrowman• 2 months ago

They’re pretty incredible, 200+ lumens per watt for LED lighting vs 16 lumens per watt for incandescent, 12.5x more efficient. Commercial LED fixtures have rated lifetimes of 50,000+ hours.

bluebarbet• 2 months ago

The residual problem as ever being the rebound effect, AKA Jevons paradox. Let's hope that humans find a way not to want everything 12.5x brighter.

cocoto• 2 months ago

Yes but LED lights need to be connected to some electricity source, which is inconvenient in some scenarios.

Sam6late• 2 months ago

I remember old watches that used to have some phosphors dots on the 4 main quarters in a hand watch to see time in the dark, while as kids we would take a to bed a rosary with glow-in-the-dark marbles to emit light from the phosphors inside.That would last for 30 minutes or more.

Light without electricity? Glowing algae could make it possible

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