Putting down roots on the moon
Anna-Lisa Paul and Rob Ferl’s biology lab at the University of Florida in Gainesville is sprinkled with tiny green plants with fuzzy leaves and angel-hair stems. They sprout in petri dishes, spin inside a slowly rotating chamber, and rise out of thimble-size pots, the tallest ones ending in delicate white blossoms. Arabidopsis thaliana is an unassuming-looking weed commonly used in plant biology research, but in 2022, the species accomplished a miraculous first for plant life on Earth: It took root in moon material collected during the Apollo missions and grew.
Read more about The Food on Artemis II Is Surprisingly Tasty—but It Still Won’t Be Good Enough for Mars.
