plant Nanobionic To Detect Buried Explosives

MIT engineers have developed nanobionic spinach plants that can detect buried landmines and hidden explosives.

The researchers were able to do this by embedding the leaves of the spinach with carbon nanotubes transforming them into sensors that can detect explosives and wirelessly transmit the information to a handheld device.

MIT chemical engineering professor Michael Strano said that the approach called "pla

nt nanobionics" aims to introduce nanoparticles into the plant so it can have non-native functions.

For the research, which was described in the journal Nature Materials, Strano and colleagues designed spinach and its nanotubes to react to nitroaromatics found in landmines that leech into the soil surrounding the buried explosives.