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Chinese Scientists Made Glowing Plants with Firefly DNA to Replace Streetlights
(www.zmescience.com)
this post was submitted on 10 Aug 2026
299 points (94.9% liked)
Technology
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Not nearly enough light.
yeah this is definitely a case of "let's do this because it's fun and try to think of a legitimate use for it later".
also you can get glowing petunias now from https://light.bio/.
seems predatory
I specifically cloned these and cross bred them to give to my friends. They weren’t even that interesting of a plant, the light gimmick is shit, and you can barely see it on a new moon night. But since they told me I wasn’t allowed to propagate it, that was the first thing I did.
IP in plant breeds is a thing unfortunately. Furthermore these traits are often created by radioactive or chemical procedure and don't replicate into the seeds.
It is theoretically possible to clone or propagate the plants, although it would be against the terms, so definitely don’t do this and give them away
It should legally be called a lease
They developed the product and deserve to make some money from it.
Also they are purely decorative plants, it’s not like people need these things for food or any other reason. Hard to call that “predatory”.
Actually nature developed most of the product and as a card carrying member of nature, I expect to see my royalties check in the mail soon.
I dunno, a few more steps down that slippery slope and then you've got Triffids. That's pretty predatory.
They deserve to make some money from it. Mostly the original researchers that is. They had their wages to do their fucking job researching shit. Maybe we should have a kind of UN bonus system to reward outstanding research.
These companies take the research and all that it's build on and use it for free to develop it into a product. Do a good job growing and selling them then, make money. But laws protecting them to create an artificial monopoly is unethical. It's hard to build up a successful and efficient company, but monopolies practically invite them to be inefficient and garbage.
I can imagine a big wall of these, or the next varietal, illuminating a space and making oxygen as well. Maybe not street lights, but definitely night lighting in buildings.
The glow is just barely visible at night with a new moon.
Source: I bought a bunch of these and regret it.
That's so disappointing.
I'd wager these produce less oxygen in part due to the glowing aspect. Photosynthesis is mostly only active during the day when there's enough photo to help synthesise carbon dioxide into oxygen, glucose, and starch. During the night plants switch over to cellular respiration where they take their stored energy (glucose), and burn it, converting oxygen to carbon dioxide and water.
I'm guessing producing the light will require some amount of energy so the general net gain/loss in terms of oxygen is probably affected. On a global, or even national scale I don't think the oxygen production of deocrative plants in cities will matter much.
Love the idea of glowing plants. Very fantasy.