'World's first man-made leaves' could use photosynthesis to help astronauts breathe
The Silk Leaf project uses chloroplasts from real plants suspended in silk proteins to create a hardy vehicle for photosynthesis
The 'world’s first artificial leaves' that incorporate chloroplasts extracted from plants to produce oxygen could be used to keep astronauts breathing on long space journeys.
The leaves, created by Royal College of Art student Julian Melchiorri, absorb water and carbon dioxide just like real plants but are made from tough silk proteins that could let them survive space voyages.
Melchiorri, who was interviewed by design site Dezeen, explains: "NASA is researching different ways to produce oxygen for long-distance space journeys to let us live in space. This material could allow us to explore space much further than we can now."