VIDEO: A living sign made of glowing bacteria

Bioengineers at University of California, San Diego, have created a living neon sign composed of millions of bacterial cells that fluoresce in unison like blinking light bulbs. Using the same method, the researchers also engineered a bacterial sensor to detect arsenic. Because bacteria are sensitive to many kinds of environmental pollutants and organisms, this approach could be also used in low cost bacterial biosensors to detect metals and disease-causing organisms.