Imagine you’re travelling through farmland and you come across a paddock filled with bright pink fluff. Then you see another with blue plants, followed by a completely orange crop. This might actually happen one day, thanks to the recent Australian invention of coloured cotton.
Cotton is a fluffy white crop that produces the world’s most common natural fibre. While some green and brown varieties exist in America, they’re quite rare and don’t grow fibres large enough for manufacturing.
The new variety won’t have this problem; it’s made by taking ordinary cotton and changing the genes that control colour. While scientists haven’t yet grown a plant to adulthood, all signs suggest the project will be successful.
These naturally-colourful plants won’t need to be dyed before use, which is both easier for manufacturers and safer for the environment. Many common dyes are toxic, while others produce harmful chemicals as they break down, or just don’t decompose at all. The sooner coloured cotton makes these unnecessary, the better.
Lachlan Writes Science 