5 ms·

Chinese already did a similar experiment few years ago and the result was that "plants can grow on the moon despite the intense radiation, low gravity, and prol

Chinese already did a similar experiment few years ago and the result was that "plants can grow on the moon despite the intense radiation, low gravity, and prolonged intense light" https://phys.org/news/2023-10-china-tiny-farm-moon.html https://phys.org/news/2023-10-china-tiny-farm-moon.html

Syonyk 2y ago
> Over the next eight days, this payload conducted a vital experiment where it attempted to grow the first plants on the moon. The plants survived eight days before freezing, but important questions also include things like "How does the radiation impact their seed viability in future generations?" I'll grant that they didn't immediately die, but neither would I have expected that from an ionizing environment. Just a lot of weird quirks in lifecycle.
- Suppafly 2y ago
  You can keep something alive for a week in a terrarium basically anywhere, I'm not even sure their result is interesting if it weren't for the fact that it was on the moon.
  - bobthepanda 2y ago
    We do need to prove basic assumptions on the fairly likely chance that they won’t pan out.
  - seanw444 2y ago
    > if it weren't for the fact that it was on the moon. If it weren't for the entire reason they did the experiment in the first place?
- throw88888 2y ago
  Ionized radiation is dangerous to mammals because of the potential DNA damage that we are so bad at repairing. Plants on the contrary tolerate much more damage. To the point that we develop new species by bombarding seeds with ionized radiation.
  - dhosek 2y ago
    I read about an effort to do this in the 1950s (IIRC, it was in Pawpaw: In Search of America's Forgotten Fruit by Andrew Moore, but I could be wrong about that) and as I remember it, most of the radiated seeds were either sterile or produced deformed offspring.
    - realce 2y ago
      Did they expose the seeds or the plant that produced them?
    - CapitalistCartr 2y ago
      Atomic gardens: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_gardening https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_gardening
      - readyplayernull 2y ago
        + artificial selection by robots, could be a way to generate environment adapted organisms.
  - fsckboy 2y ago
    >we develop new species by bombarding seeds with ionized radiation "yes, no problem, because what could go wrong!? Another slice of care-not cake, pls"
    - pixl97 2y ago
      Honesty the biggest what could go wrong is things like vegetables will stop producing the useful large fruits we eat if we're trying to grow things for food.
      - bregma 2y ago
        On the contrary: the ones that washed up on the shore of Gilligan's Island were unusually large.
perihelions 2y ago
That same lander (Chang'e 4) also measured the radiation dose rate on the moon. It's about 2.6x that of the ISS. Doesn't account for solar particle events, which they didn't encounter any. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aaz1334 https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aaz1334 ("First measurements of the radiation dose on the lunar surface") - "LND measured an average dose equivalent of 1369 μSv/day on the surface of the Moon."

Syonyk 2y ago

> Over the next eight days, this payload conducted a vital experiment where it attempted to grow the first plants on the moon. The plants survived eight days before freezing, but important questions also include things like "How does the radiation impact their seed viability in future generations?" I'll grant that they didn't immediately die, but neither would I have expected that from an ionizing environment. Just a lot of weird quirks in lifecycle.

Suppafly 2y ago
You can keep something alive for a week in a terrarium basically anywhere, I'm not even sure their result is interesting if it weren't for the fact that it was on the moon.
- bobthepanda 2y ago
  We do need to prove basic assumptions on the fairly likely chance that they won’t pan out.
- seanw444 2y ago
  > if it weren't for the fact that it was on the moon. If it weren't for the entire reason they did the experiment in the first place?
throw88888 2y ago
Ionized radiation is dangerous to mammals because of the potential DNA damage that we are so bad at repairing. Plants on the contrary tolerate much more damage. To the point that we develop new species by bombarding seeds with ionized radiation.
- dhosek 2y ago
  I read about an effort to do this in the 1950s (IIRC, it was in Pawpaw: In Search of America's Forgotten Fruit by Andrew Moore, but I could be wrong about that) and as I remember it, most of the radiated seeds were either sterile or produced deformed offspring.
  - realce 2y ago
    Did they expose the seeds or the plant that produced them?
  - CapitalistCartr 2y ago
    Atomic gardens: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_gardening https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_gardening
    - readyplayernull 2y ago
      + artificial selection by robots, could be a way to generate environment adapted organisms.
- fsckboy 2y ago
  >we develop new species by bombarding seeds with ionized radiation "yes, no problem, because what could go wrong!? Another slice of care-not cake, pls"
  - pixl97 2y ago
    Honesty the biggest what could go wrong is things like vegetables will stop producing the useful large fruits we eat if we're trying to grow things for food.
    - bregma 2y ago
      On the contrary: the ones that washed up on the shore of Gilligan's Island were unusually large.

perihelions 2y ago

That same lander (Chang'e 4) also measured the radiation dose rate on the moon. It's about 2.6x that of the ISS. Doesn't account for solar particle events, which they didn't encounter any. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aaz1334 https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aaz1334 ("First measurements of the radiation dose on the lunar surface") - "LND measured an average dose equivalent of 1369 μSv/day on the surface of the Moon."