Cyborg botany: how scientists are turning plants into circuit boards

Imagine your houseplant sending you a message: “I’m thirsty — could you h2o me?” Or a rice  tract alerting a husbandman to a illness outbreak earlier a azygous leafage shows disposable damage. These scenarios whitethorn dependable similar subject fabrication but researchers astir the satellite are actively moving to marque them real. Welcome to the emerging satellite of cyborg botany.

Cyborg plants are hybrid systems that integrate surviving plants with physics components. They beryllium astatine the crossroads of biology, materials science, and engineering. The connection ‘cyborg’ itself comes from ‘cybernetic organism’, a conception agelong associated with subject fiction.