posted by Dr. Amber Jenkins Mimicry is the sincerest form of
flattery. At least that’s how it goes in the technology world.
Today’s researchers are developing solar-powered cells that look
and behave exactly like plant leaves — they're green, they blow
in the wind, and they absorb light and convert it into
electrons. Straight from Mother Nature’s textbook. Now an
illuminating new design has come to the table. It’s less a case
of mimicking a plant and more a case of harnessing real-life
fruit — in this case, tomatoes. Yep, those acidic little yummies
are being used to run an LED table lamp called “Still Light.”
The lamp, which comes out of d-VISION, an Israeli internship
program for Product Development and Industrial Design, hooks up
tomatoes to copper and zinc electrodes. The tomatoes act as
electrolytes for the current to pass through and help power the
LED. Like all good things, it comes to an end — when the
tomatoes eventually rot. This isn’t nature’s solution to our
energy problems. But it is a cool new d