A First: Scientists Grow Plants in Soil From the Moon
Scientists have grown plants in soil from the moon, a first in human history and a milestone in lunar and space exploration. In a new paper published in the journal “Communications Biology,” University of Florida researchers showed that plants can successfully sprout and grow in lunar soil. Their study also investigated how plants respond biologically to the moon’s soil, also known as lunar regolith, which is radically different from soil found on Earth.
Rob Ferl Receives NASA Exceptional Public Service Medal
Rob Ferl, distinguished professor in the UF/IFAS horticultural sciences department and assistant vice president for UF research, has received one of NASA’s most prestigious honors, the Exceptional Public Service Medal.
UF Plant Experiment Flies on Virgin Galactic Spaceship
UF project, funded by NASA’s Flight Opportunities Program, was the only science experiment on the Virgin Galactic mission, meant to study the impact the transition to and from zero gravity has on gene expression in cells, and, more broadly, to develop protocols for “human-tended” suborbital flights.
One Giant Leap for Squid-Kind: Why NASA Launched Tiny Sea Creatures Into Space
NASA launched dozens of baby Hawaiian bobtail squid into space for scientific research on how to further preserve astronauts' health during long space missions.
Robert Ferl Named Chair of the Decadal Survey on Biological and Physical Sciences Research in Space 2023–2032
The National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine announced that Dr. Robert J. Ferl, a distinguished professor and plant molecular biologist at the University of Florida, will co-chair the Decadal Survey on Biological and Physical Sciences Research in Space 2023–2032 along with Dr. Krystyn J. Van Vliet from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Life at Low Pressure: Planetary Protection and the Habitability of Mars
A recent study supported by the NASA Planetary Protection Research Program is lending new insight into hypopiezotolerant microorganisms. “The term ‘hypopiezotolerant’ means a... Read More
IC2 Wins NASA Phase 2 SBIR for Field Deployable Wireless Data Acquisition System for Ground-Test Arrays
UF startup Interdisciplinary Consulting Corporation (IC2), a technology-development company commercializing miniaturized instrumentation that monitors the health of aerospace propulsion systems and enables... Read More
UF Study Selected Among 21 NASA Proposals to Support Crew Health and Performance in Astronauts on Missions to the Moon and Mars
Dr. Wayne Nicholson, professor of Microbiology and Cell Science at the University of Florida, was selected by NASA to help answer questions... Read More
Inner to Outer Space: Studying Biological Changes With Plants on Rockets
What happens to the genes of organisms as they travel from the ground, through Earth’s atmosphere, and into space? Does their expression... Read More
