Somehow, not the future I saw coming.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161101104731.htm

Spinach is no longer just a superfood: By embedding leaves with carbon nanotubes, MIT engineers have transformed spinach plants into sensors that can detect explosives and wirelessly relay that information to a handheld device similar to a smartphone.

This is one of the first demonstrations of engineering electronic systems into plants, an approach that the researchers call "plant nanobionics."

"The goal of plant nanobionics is to introduce nanoparticles into the plant to give it non-native functions," says Michael Strano, the Carbon P. Dubbs Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT and the leader of the research team.

In this case, the plants were designed to detect chemical compounds known as nitroaromatics, which are often used in landmines and other explosives. When one of these chemicals is present in the groundwater sampled naturally by the plant, carbon nanotubes embedded in the plant leaves emit a fluorescent signal that can be read with an infrared camera. The camera can be attached to a small computer similar to a smartphone, which then sends an email to the user.

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

I like this future!

[Faust]

That 's really awesome, I wonder what sensitivity it gives, and what other compounds they can be trained to for sensitivity, could potentially be used for all kinds of contaminations.

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

I wonder if the spinach is edible? Article didn't mention one way or another.

[Junkenstein]

That 's really awesome, I wonder what sensitivity it gives, and what other compounds they can be trained to for sensitivity, could potentially be used for all kinds of contaminations.

There's all kinds of tsa related jokes here.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

That 's really awesome, I wonder what sensitivity it gives, and what other compounds they can be trained to for sensitivity, could potentially be used for all kinds of contaminations.

Hypothetically, you could create strains that are sensitive to just about any molecule. This could get super interesting!

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I wonder if the spinach is edible? Article didn't mention one way or another.

An edible garden of bomb-sniffing spinach would be interesting. Probably useless, but interesting.

[Faust]

In the grounds around manufacturing you could spot leaks in waste or as a cheap way of detecting contaminants in drinking water. Specifically I'm thinking of the fracking fears and the groundwater contamination.
If they can be trained with more sophisticated particles you could get a cheap Cryptosporidium detector, which has been elusive as fuck.

If it is fast acting, and good sensitivity it could potentially be an early warning system.

"Quick kids the spinach sentry is fluorescing, get to the car, don't worry about grandma, she's already dead."

The only thing  I would be worried about is introducing carbon nanotubes into the food cycle, slugs are bad enough without them excreting bullet proof armour.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

In the grounds around manufacturing you could spot leaks in waste or as a cheap way of detecting contaminants in drinking water. Specifically I'm thinking of the fracking fears and the groundwater contamination.
If they can be trained with more sophisticated particles you could get a cheap Cryptosporidium detector, which has been elusive as fuck.

If it is fast acting, and good sensitivity it could potentially be an early warning system.

"Quick kids the spinach sentry is fluorescing, get to the car, don't worry about grandma, she's already dead."

The only thing  I would be worried about is introducing carbon nanotubes into the food cycle, slugs are bad enough without them excreting bullet proof armour.

I don't know that the roots are deep enough for them to be especially useful for that. Contaminant flumes tend to go down into the soil, especially if it's sandy or gravelly, and then disperse downgrade, but below the topsoil.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Trees would be good, though. Something fast-growing, like alder.

[Don Coyote]

Cyborg lettuce...

[Ziegejunge]

Robot Popeye (1961) Episode 203- Popeye Cartoon Episode Guide

Brutus purchases a robot which looks like Popeye, and uses it to sabotage Popeye's relationships and reputation. He tricks Olive into getting mad at Popeye so that he can get a date with her. Popeye catches on and proves to Olive that it was a robot.

source: https://www.bcdb.com/cartoon-story/52643-Robot-Popeye

[axod]

Trees would be good, though. Something fast-growing, like alder.

This should spur research into developing wood-loving mushrooms with a soft-spot for nano-tubes <g>

[NeonWytch]

Fuck man, that's amazing. Plant this stuff along streams with sensors meant to pick up pollutants, plant it near homes with sensors to detect lead, there are so many uses for this!

[trix]

i want a small travel-sized herb that can detect farts and point its leaves at whodunnit.

No more blame game bullshit!