Washington, October 3 (ANI): An English designer based in The Netherlands has come up with a lamp that uses “human blood” to create light.

Mike Thompson’s lamp contains a chemical called luminol that reacts with the iron in blood, and creates a bright blue glow.

To use the lamp, according to Thompson, one has to first mix in an activating powder, break the glass, cut oneself, and drip blood into the opening.

He conceived this idea, recently reported by New Scientist magazine, a few years ago while he was studying for his masters at the Design Academy Eindhoven in the Netherlands.

While researching chemical energy for a project, he came across luminol-the same chemical that forensic scientists use to check for traces of blood at a crime scene.

“It kind of triggered this thought in my mind, that if energy somehow came at a cost to us, then maybe it would make us think differently about the way we use it,” LiveScience quoted him as saying.

Thompson said that his lamp was intended to “challenge people’s preconceived notions about where our energy comes from.”

He said that it would force the user “to rethink how wasteful they are with energy, and how precious it is.”

He described his invention as a single-use light.

“You have to really decide when to use this lamp because it’s only going to work once. So it makes it kind of a poignant moment,” Thompson said.

Thompson designed and produced the lamp in 2007, and made a video of his project this year. (ANI)