The photo on the right is a tree in my neighborhood that has a solar collector sticking out the top with three spotlights below the branches, illuminating the tree at night. With the solar panel doing the equivalent of photosynthesis, this would seem to be a bionic tree.
Which reminds me of a project of mine in the early 1990s when I started a campaign to label genetically altered foods.
To explain to people what the future presaged, I tried to make a luminescent broccoli. The broccoli was easy to grow, the mechanism for delivering the luminescent genes to the germ cells was clear: mix the pcr generated powder of luminescent gene segments with the powdered tobacco mosaic virus and use it as a culture for the broccoli seeds. Some of the seedlings would take on the genes and glow. Take the seeds of the mature glowing broccoli, reproduce and sell to the public.
I expected my luminescent broccoli to be an international press sensation. Many kids hate broccoli and they would help make a point of the luminescent broccoli as a monster. On the other hand, luminescent broccoli could be planted along running paths for running at night.
Please try this project yourself. I couldn’t order the luminescent genes nor the tobacco mosaic virus because I didn’t have a certified lab address. A photo of real luminescent tobacco is on the right.