The concept has been developed by Christine Charles and Rod Boswell at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra.

BBC: Glow from argon plasma. Image: LPTP, Ecole Polytechnique

Given Australia's difficult hisory of disastrous species introductions, you'd think some academics would slam the idea simply on the basis that you shouldn't do any more of them - and this was a point picked up by Prof Patricia Werner from the Australian National University (ANU).

BBC: Trumpets of outrage in the outback