AUTUM C. PYLANT, NEWS EDITOR, [email protected]The global energy consumption attributed to direct and indirect lighting accounts for nearly 20 percent of demand and over 2 Gt of CO2 emissions per year. The rapid growth of cities and urbanizing regions around the world is changing the ways in which urban infrastructure is conceived, powered, delivered and maintained. Typical municipal lighting requires complex electrical grids and infrastructure, keeping many developing nations around the world literally in the dark. Researchers at MIT think they may have a solution to this ongoing problem: nanobionic light-emitting plants. 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