If a team of Chinese researchers has its way, the future of cities could look a lot more like organic, leafy laser tag arenas.
The team from a biotech company called Magicpen Bio is attempting to turn nature into infrastructure and has bioengineered 20 species of glow-in-the-dark plants. The species were not new, but rather glowing twists on old favorites like orchids, sunflowers, and chrysanthemums.
According to a report in Euronews, the team pulled it off by inserting genes from fireflies and bioluminescent fungi into plant cells. The plants eventually emit a soft, visible light without electricity. The effect is a steady ambient glow, more akin to a gentle nightlight than a bright streetlamp.
Scientists Gave These Plants Firefly DNA for a Wild Reason
Founder Li Renhan envisions a future where glowing parks and gardens replace or supplement traditional lighting, cutting energy use while reshaping how cities look after dark.
Researchers from all over the world have been fiddling with the concept of bioluminescent plants for a while now, especially after the commercial release of glowing houseplants like the firefly Petunia in 2024. While the firefly Petunia is a bit pricey and its glow may not be as impressive as advertised, it’s still a remarkable achievement for a biotech that is still in its infancy.
The difference with Magicpen Bio’s work in the field is the scale they’re working at. This is a day novelty item to be placed on a windowsill, occasionally admired for its dim glow. Researchers are talking about lighting entire public spaces with their living glowing plants, turning our world into the bioluminescent world of Avatar’s Pandora.
It’s easy to imagine a future where these plans have become so bright after years and years of iteration that we’ve naturally cut down on energy use as we light up urban areas with plans that make their own light, all with the same underlying gene editing techniques that are already being used in medicine and agriculture to, for instance, develop pest resistant crops or tract diseases at a cellular level. If you can do that, might as well make a plan to glow in the dark.
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