What do you better make your garden grow?
But imagine you had no rich soil, or showers of rain, or bees and butterflies.
And the sunshine was either too harsh and direct or absent causing freezing temperatures.
Could plants grow in such an environment and, if so, which ones?
Now a new study,published in Communications Biology, has started to provide answers.
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Neither does it have an inherent water content.
The research showed that this is indeed the case.
thalianagerminated at the same rate in Apollo material as they did in the terrestrial soil.
The main thrust of the research was to examine plants at the genetic level.
This allowed the scientists to recognize which specific environmental factors evoked the strongest genetic responses to stress.
Experimental results, with different wells for each soil.
The terrestrial soil, called JSC-1A, was not a regular soil.
It was a mixture of minerals prepared specifically to simulate the lunar surface and contained no organic matter.
The starting material was basalt, just as in lunar regolith.
Agglutinates are a common feature of the lunar surface.
Ironically, they are formed by a process referred to as lunar gardening.
Gradually, small aggregates of minerals build up, held together by glass.
They also contain tiny particles of iron metal (nanophase iron) formed by the space weathering process.
This was also the most probable cause of the metal-associated stress recognized in the plants genetic profiles.
Very mature soils have been on the surface for a long time.
The three Apollo samples had different maturities, with the Apollo 11 material being the most mature.
It contained the most nanophase iron and exhibited the highest metal-associated stress markers in its genetic profile.
But that the location of the habitat should be guided by the maturity of the soil.
That would be the subject of a different article.
But are there technology developments that arise from this research that could be applicable on Earth?
Could what has been learned about stress-related genetic changes be used to develop more drought-resistant crops?
Or plants that could tolerate higher levels of metals?
