Salmon sperm used to intensify LEDs, grossify everyone

See, the problem with bioengineering isn't moral or ethical dilemmas, or even homicidal robo-droids enslaving humanity. It's that if you let researchers go wild, eventually they'll find a way to make LEDs out of salmon sperm, threatening the sanctity (and sperm-free-ness) of your entire gadget-based lifestyle. Yet that's exactly what Professor Andrew Steckl of the University of Cincinnati has managed to do, using the DNA found in salmon sperm to enhance the brightness of LEDs. The so-called BioLEDs are being developed in cooperation with the Air Force (yes, the Air Force -- they had a "good source" of salmon sperm, apparently) and they've been so successful that Steckl has been getting salmon sperm from researchers worldwide "wanting to see if their sperm is good enough." Steckl says that since salmon sperm is considered a waste product of the fishing industry, BioLEDs are particularly green -- kind of like our faces right now.

[Carl Vitullo @ Mar 11th 2008 3:47PM]

i don't even want to know why they had that sperm.

[Loonie @ Mar 11th 2008 3:55PM]

Nor how they came to discover its photoluminescence-improving characteristics.

[Ayman T @ Mar 11th 2008 4:18PM]

Something about this is very FISHY :P

[Tony the Troll @ Mar 11th 2008 4:32PM]

The more important question is: Who did they get to whack off all the little salmon dongs?

[Tim @ Mar 11th 2008 4:40PM]

@Tony: I don't know about salmon, but I've seen people who do it for dolphins. (OK, yeah, there is a little size difference there.)

[stickmanfc73_ @ Mar 11th 2008 4:58PM]

You three just had the best combination of posts I've see on this site. LOL hilarity.

[Ryan Beesley @ Mar 11th 2008 5:26PM]

Tim, the big question I'm sure we all have, is _why_ were you watching that? To each their own... well, maybe not in this case. :-D

[Blackstar @ Mar 11th 2008 5:45PM]

Or worse, how many different animals did they test before they decided to settle on Salmon!?! O.o

I get the feeling Mike Rowe is in for a very interesting season this year.

[Ignatius @ Mar 11th 2008 6:29PM]

Salmon don't have phalli. Salmon have cloaca. They merely fertilize the eggs by passing by, not with copulation.

Don't you people know anything about the world?

[DorianGray @ Mar 11th 2008 7:58PM]

@Ignatius

Snarky tech blogs aren't about zoology. Snarky tech blogs are about laughing about tech. An underlying assumption of ignorance lends itself to the humor.

Don't you know anything about the world?
assbag.

[sdh @ Mar 12th 2008 7:52AM]

I don't know if I should spit at or swallow this news?

[obie @ Mar 12th 2008 5:02PM]

Hmmm... I don't think that they just had some salmon sperm sitting around and just randomly decided to test it :) The LED uses the DNA extracted from the sperm, and the particular structure of the DNA allows the researchers to control the light that comes out.

This could actually be done with other kinds of DNA, but salmon sperm is easily acquired and easy to extract DNA from. He's probably been mailed the sperm because this could be a potential source of extra income for fisheries.

Still kind of weird though...

[Betabox @ Mar 11th 2008 3:51PM]

So the navy semen was not good enough?

[Michael LaFramboise @ Mar 11th 2008 4:44PM]

Oh those fine sea-men on the poopdeck...

[nh @ Mar 11th 2008 5:54PM]

'Seaman was' or 'Seamen were'. Poor effort.

Oh hang on, what are we talking about here?

[Sime @ Mar 11th 2008 3:48PM]

so the very computer moniter i stare at at work everyday could one day be coated with the sperm of some fish!? And here i thought work was bad enough...

[Skullfighter @ Mar 11th 2008 9:27PM]

At least I won't have to yell for people to stop touching my screen! :-D

[N @ Mar 11th 2008 9:35PM]

no different to any other day, when your screen is covered in sperm.

[Chebwa @ Mar 11th 2008 3:49PM]

Judging by the way every picture on Engadget with something vaguely resembling tits in it garners about 100 comments in the vein of "SHE'S HOT," I'd assume most of the readers here don't have sperm free tech anyway.

[David Vogt @ Mar 11th 2008 5:05PM]

XD My coke almost just landed all over my laptop!

[Cornelius @ Mar 11th 2008 5:32PM]

@David

You sure that was your coke?

[dataminer49er @ Mar 11th 2008 3:49PM]

Just don't use this in an underwater application the results may be disturbing...

[Drew Fink @ Mar 11th 2008 3:50PM]

As a 2006 UC grad, I couldn't be more proud

[mahmud @ Mar 12th 2008 1:38AM]

and you should be! i don't find it disgusting at all. that's great ingenuity in the field of bio-engineering. before you know it they'll be using the energy in the mitochondria from the sperm's midpiece for everything!

[mac @ Mar 11th 2008 3:51PM]

"Steckl has been getting salmon sperm from researchers worldwide 'wanting to see if their sperm is good enough.'"

Researchers need to stop living vicariously through their fish.

[Chris @ Mar 11th 2008 6:52PM]

*golf clap*

[Life of Brian @ Mar 11th 2008 9:06PM]

I see what you did there.

[Skullfighter @ Mar 11th 2008 9:29PM]

They need to stop playing with their "Tuna".

[shaka999 @ Mar 11th 2008 3:53PM]

Thanks for the great write up. Best laugh I've had today...

[Sauerkraut @ Mar 11th 2008 3:53PM]

where do they come up with this idea, hmm lets mix some of chemical a and chemical b to create a new medicine

hmm lets mix sperm from a fish and led

[zoara @ Mar 11th 2008 10:36PM]

rtfa?

[Matt @ Mar 11th 2008 3:55PM]

I wonder if this would work on humans?
Of all the newfangled ways of producing our own energy, I think this would be my favorite!

[Ryan Trevisol @ Mar 11th 2008 3:55PM]

"threatening the sanctity (and sperm-free-ness) of your entire gadget-based lifestyle"

If you have a sperm-free, gadget-based lifestyle, you must be a poor lonely soul Nilay.

[gb @ Mar 11th 2008 4:18PM]

I was thinking that many engadget readers ARE lonely souls that probably have a sperm-intensive, gadget-based lifestyle.

[PopsG @ Mar 11th 2008 3:58PM]

"BioLEDs are particularly green -- kind of like our faces right now."
If the sperm = green, and your faces = green, is it safe to assume engadget received a salmon money shot?

[apw76006 @ Mar 11th 2008 4:48PM]

Thanks PopsG. I had always wondered if I could vomit and laugh at the same time and you helped me answer my question. :-)

[Life of Brian @ Mar 11th 2008 9:08PM]

Who else thinks "salmon money shot" would be an awesome name for a band?

[nathan.wong @ Mar 11th 2008 4:03PM]

So after the salmon population is depleted will they then be going after sperm whale sperm?

[Anthony @ Mar 11th 2008 4:19PM]

Only for those really big lights on towers, bridges, and planes.

[Blake Bowen @ Mar 11th 2008 4:04PM]

This was in PopSci quite a while ago. C'mon engadget, you're telling me you guys don't have a subscription?

[Philippe @ Mar 11th 2008 4:05PM]

Heard in a RadioShack: "I'd like to return this LED, it has low motility"

[Dunnp @ Mar 11th 2008 4:09PM]

The reason for using salmon sperm was not completely random. One of the best sources of DNA for proof of concept experiments is from salmon sperm. Most research labs will use this in DNA experiments.

[Ayman T @ Mar 11th 2008 4:12PM]

LOL wonder if they would do a Lighthouse lamp of this, they might need the sperm of a whale.

on another note they should try electric eels sperm, that way they generate light and produce power... ( Can anyone give me a more stupid idea than that):P

[Tim Hodapp @ Mar 11th 2008 4:13PM]

Go Bearcats!

ChemE class of '05

[cristian @ Mar 11th 2008 4:13PM]

insted of

(yes, the Air Force -- they had a "good source" of salmon sperm, apparently)

should be

(yes, the Air Force -- they had a good source of "salmon sperm", apparently)

[lordofthedirectrix @ Mar 11th 2008 4:45PM]

No it shouldn't...

[macona @ Mar 11th 2008 4:13PM]

Sperm-leds, the lighting choice of sea-men everywhere...

[Passarinhuu @ Mar 11th 2008 4:14PM]

The article states that the DNA is used because of its capability to hold electrons due to its particular structure. If that's indeed what's happening, they could have used any type of DNA they had, didn't even need to be sperm DNA.
I think they used sperm just because it was a by-product of another industry and to get nice hype around the research.

[whatishalo? @ Mar 11th 2008 4:15PM]

They could use it for a modern lava lamp. A Mojo-Lamp!

[Allen @ Mar 11th 2008 4:18PM]

+1.

Stole the words out of my mouth.