The seeds grew in lunar soil collected during Apollo 11, 12 and 17 missions decades ago.
For the first time, scientists have successfully grown plants using lunar soil—known as lunar regolith—collected from past moon expeditions.
Scientists at the University of Florida conducted the experiment using a well-studied plant known as Arabidopsis thaliana, a crop native to Eurasia and Africa and a relative of the mustard green and other vegetables such as Brussels sprouts, broccoli and cauliflower. They didn’t even know if the seeds would germinate.
In a paper published May 12 in the journal Communications Biology, researchers explained how they conducted the experiment using teaspoon-sized samples of regolith— collected from Apollo 11, 12 and 17 missions—alongside control earth soil and a lunar soil simulant made from volcanic ash. Each plant was allotted only a gram of the lunar soil for the study.
Source: https://modernfarmer.com
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