--- title: MIT Engineers Have Made Spinach Plants Sniff Out Bombs description: Engineers have transformed spinach plants into bomb-sniffing machines that can wirelessly relay warning signals to a handheld device canonical: https://time.com/4553397/spinach-plants-bomb-sniffing/ author: Kate Samuelson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-11-01T16:33:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T10:21:26.720Z article:section: Science og:title: MIT Geniuses Have Transformed Spinach Plants Into Bomb-Sniffing Machines og:description: The leaves can detect chemical compounds often used in explosions og:url: https://time.com/4553397/spinach-plants-bomb-sniffing/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4f465c0faef49440/6988ac7bf887dc98aee98073/nanobionic-spinach-plant.png?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: nanobionic-spinach-plant og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: MIT Geniuses Have Transformed Spinach Plants Into Bomb-Sniffing Machines twitter:description: The leaves can detect chemical compounds often used in explosions twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4f465c0faef49440/6988ac7bf887dc98aee98073/nanobionic-spinach-plant.png?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # MIT Geniuses Have Transformed Spinach Plants Into Bomb-Sniffing Machines by [Kate Samuelson](https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Nov 1, 2016 4:33 PM UTC  Engineers at MIT have transformed spinach plants into bomb-sniffing machines that can wirelessly relay warning signals to a handheld device similar to a smartphone Engineers at MIT have transformed spinach plants into bomb-sniffing machines that can wirelessly relay warning signals to a handheld device similar to a smartphoneMassachusetts Institute of Technology by [Kate Samuelson](https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Nov 1, 2016 4:33 PM UTC Engineers at [MIT](http://time.com/3767996/how-mit-rates-applicants/) have transformed [spinach](http://healthland.time.com/2012/04/23/fresh-vs-canned-can-you-get-healthy-food-from-a-can/slide/spinach/) plants into bomb-sniffing machines that can wirelessly relay warning signals to a handheld device similar to a smartphone. They embedded the plants’ leaves with carbon nanotubes—tiny cylinders of carbon that can detect “nitroaromatics”—chemical compounds often used in landmines and other explosives. When one of these chemicals compounds is absorbed naturally by the plant (either in the air or through groundwater), the embedded nanotubes emit a fluorescent signal that can be read with an infrared camera, [MIT said](http://news.mit.edu/2016/nanobionic-spinach-plants-detect-explosives-1031). “The camera can be attached to a small computer similar to a smartphone, which then sends an email to the user,” the school said in a release. The study, led by Min Hao Wong, an MIT graduate student, and Juan Pablo Giraldo, a former MIT postdoc now working as an assistant professor at the University of California at Riverside, was outlined in a paper in the Oct. 31 issue of [_Nature Materials_](http://www.nature.com/articles/nmat4771.epdf?referrer%5Faccess%5Ftoken=QjUmz7Ix59LpiHAfkT4lQdRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0PQElZaHwa8SEPCKXqBzkMHykcT7LRgll3y09WFV1yd0l7uw5MAL0m6%5FBPsXgPN48adWuwMw-gUx4wyMVRuMrG0hwelEhaM5IjXAOoYrUAcqVCCdQ-agOmG4%5FEw0Il%5FrRRyubbpTvbP44ZayYH4wkirM6HEHiPJnZvQUTALSmqhuw%3D%3D&tracking%5Freferrer=www.bbc.com). These results “open the door to the use of wild-type plants for infrared communication in wide areas, and real-time monitoring of environments such as cities, crop fields, high-security facilities, and homes,” the paper concluded. Watch a video about how it works here: ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4553397/spinach-plants-bomb-sniffing/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4553397/spinach-plants-bomb-sniffing/"},"headline":"MIT Geniuses Have Transformed Spinach Plants Into Bomb-Sniffing Machines","datePublished":"2016-11-01T16:33:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T10:21:26.720Z","description":"The leaves can detect chemical compounds often used in explosions","url":"https://time.com/4553397/spinach-plants-bomb-sniffing/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4f465c0faef49440/6988ac7bf887dc98aee98073/nanobionic-spinach-plant.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kate Samuelson","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4f465c0faef49440/6988ac7bf887dc98aee98073/nanobionic-spinach-plant.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"nanobionic-spinach-plant","caption":"Engineers at MIT have transformed spinach plants into bomb-sniffing machines that can wirelessly relay warning signals to a handheld device similar to a smartphone","creditText":"Massachusetts Institute of Technology","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4553397/spinach-plants-bomb-sniffing/","name":"MIT Geniuses Have Transformed Spinach Plants Into Bomb-Sniffing Machines"}}]}] ```