Launching and operating a spacecraft is even more complicated than you might imagine; besides having to carry its own fuel the craft also usually has to carry its own oxygen. These factors both limit the distance spacecraft are able to travel and the amount of time they can spend away from Earth.

Royal College of Art graduate Julian Melchiorri may have come up with a brilliant way to solve the oxygen issue. He developed a “synthetic biological leaf” that takes in water, light, and carbon dioxide before emitting oxygen – just like a real plant.

Melchiorri’s Silk Leaf consists of chloroplasts – photosynthesis-conducting organelles present in plant cells – suspended in a framework of silk protein. The silk protein is ideal for holding and stabilizing the chloroplasts.

The resulting synthetic leaf is 100 percent natural, lightweight, and “breathes” just like a biological plant.

The implications of this invention are vast. It could eliminate the need for spacecraft to carry oxygen on board and do away with heavy oxygen generators on the ISS and other long-term space missions.

Melchiorri sees potential for his invention right here on Earth, however. He created some light fixtures using the Silk Leaf that act as both lamps and air purifiers, and he envisions using the leaves on a large scale as building-size biological air filters.

[via: Dezeen]

The post Breath of Fresh Air: Synthetic Silk Leaf Produces Oxygen first appeared on Gajitz.

Home air purifiers, with their irritating, incessant hum and tiny lifespan, don’t serve much more of a purpose than your central air system’s intake vent. They also tend to be a bit of an eyesore. The Andrea Air Purifier, however, wants to split the difference between form and function.

Utilizing the natural air purification power of plants, the Andrea encloses a plant in what looks like a giant pill capsule with a built-in fan. The fan efficiently moves air through the plant’s leaves, soil and roots, exiting the apparatus through a tray of water meant to collect toxins. Co-inventor Tom Hadfield claims Andrea is 1000% more effective at air purifying than a houseplant alone.

Andrea works with a wide variety of houseplants. With its sleek design, it hopes to end the cycle of air purifier disposal. “Today people buy air purifiers and then they go out and they buy a vase,” Tom Hadfield said in an Inhabitat.com interview. “We think the future of indoor air purification might be somewhere in between those two.”

The post Eco-friendly Air Purifier Want to Plant Itself in Your Home first appeared on Gajitz.