The light bulb could get a brand new power source: genetically engineered E. Coli bacteria.
The Biobulb project is the brainchild of AnaElise Beckman, Alexandra Cohn and Michael Zaiken, three juniors at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The futuristic concept aims to create light from tiny microbes.
“The result ideally will be a closed ecosystem which outputs light,” Zaiken says.
The University of Wisconsin students Michael Zaiken, Alexandra Cohn and AnaElise Beckman are behind the Biobulb proposal.
As their page on the crowd sourcing site Rockethub explains, the Biobulb “will support a population of genetically engineered E. Coli. These bacteria will be transformed with a plasmid which contains the genes for bioluminescence,” which will create the light. Think of the E. Coli working the same way as yeast does for baking bread or fermenting beer, except the end product is light.
You won’t have to worry about the Biobulb’s E. Coli making you sick. Zaiken explains “the E. Coli we are using is a lab strain and all the pathogenic parts have been removed. It couldn’t hurt you.”
Biobulb: Electricity-Free Light Bulb Powered by E. Coli Bacteria [Wunderground]