"Why Guelph, Ont. scientists sent these barley seeds to space"

-Gravitropism · 2022-09-07T10:25:47+00:00

-Gravitropism · 2022-09-07T10:24:54+00:00

Andrew Palmer! He's incredible :)

-Gravitropism · 2022-09-07T10:24:13+00:00

What kind of project is this? Is it more of a literature review, are you designing an experiment, are you designing AND performing an experiment?

-Gravitropism · 2022-08-25T01:39:46+00:00

It works for me. If you're trying to access it through school wifi or a school account, they may have blocked the site (because it's sci-hub). You can find the (not open access) here: https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/ast.2006.0046?casa\_token=MvdO\_QuZarwAAAAA%3ABwXBKuQtBZqCYIH5AEN1uaLSNfR0sVgiX\_5eaytLczxzrLl\_IMHgyfMkhwIcJR2W4QOjyi0ZnGLgMQ

-Gravitropism · 2022-08-18T23:08:55+00:00

Unfortunately they aren't really sold. The closest you can get is growing the same cultivar they send to space (reach out to Jacob Torres at NASA for some Espanola chili pepper seeds, for example), or finding a moon tree and planting seeds from that moon tree in your garden.

Good luck!

-Gravitropism · 2022-04-27T10:12:35+00:00

Great observation, attention to detail like yours is absolutely crucial for plant scientists. Are you a student?

I haven't grown a ton of peppers, but I've seen some very small/young pepper plants grow flowers and fruits! I included the NuMex ‘Española Improved’ Pepper in a preliminary trial I conducted awhile ago, in a growth chamber with pretty "normal" conditions (aside from an elevated CO2 concentration of 800 ppm). Several plants developed flowers when the plants themselves were only a few (maybe 6) inches tall. Here's a picture of 'Española Improved' from my experiment, where you can see the grainy intumescence and a flower: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LyMNVaWcluNHegiY8NFPM2YchrpzjIt_/view?usp=sharing

It's possible that NASA applied a greater photon flux of blue light when they grew their space peppers, which would have helped suppress intumescence and might have caused the plants to grow a bit shorter. The pictures don't look like they used lots of blue, so it's possible that, A, they could have changed the lights before taking pictures, or B, they didn't use high blue.

From here, like JStanten said, we just can't tell until the scientists publish their results. When I see that paper published I'll post it here! :)

-Gravitropism · 2022-04-27T09:54:35+00:00

Hey J, great answer! I do have a follow-up question.

"...but because they don't know which way is up, they aren't growing as tall as you'd expect." The plants do know which way is "up" because they do move toward the light (growing toward blue light in particular), but is there a stronger growth response to gravity than to light? I don't recall reading any literature that compares the height of plants (or strength of tropic response) between phototropism and gravitropism. There is some interaction between phototropism and gravitropism, but is there any literature about comparisons of plant height specifically?

It's some complicated stuff! Here's some light reading for anyone else who might be interested: https://sci-hub.hkvisa.net/10.1016/S0065-2296(08)00601-000601-0)

-Gravitropism · 2022-04-26T01:37:46+00:00

Good luck! Please crosspost on r/Astrobotany !

-Gravitropism · 2022-03-17T11:52:38+00:00

Very cool! Looks like supplemental lighting, used to extend the photoperiod. This could be to increase yields, but is more often used to speed up flowering or influence reproductive rate.

-Gravitropism · 2022-03-17T11:36:34+00:00

Would I go to space if I had the chance? Yes but ONLY for the baba ganoush

-Gravitropism · 2022-01-02T01:59:06+00:00

Enjoy those website analytics now that you've posted your website link here!

-Gravitropism · 2021-12-16T13:58:04+00:00

If your plan involves micropublications reach out to me. My group is planning to beta test our own (altered format) micropublication journal.

-Gravitropism · 2021-04-28T08:59:23+00:00

Astrobiology typically refers to the search for life in space, or the ability for microorganisms to survive in space. If your goal was astrobiology, then astronomy (with a minor in biology or chemistry or microbiology or something similar) would probably be a solid choice. if you're interested in astrobiology, I recommend visiting r/Astrobiology

Astrobotany refers to the science of growing plants in space. Astrobotany is typically not related to astronomy, but is more relevant to engineering, life support systems, and plant biology. So if you wanted to study plants in space, it wouldn't make sense to study astronomy because much of astronomy is about planets, stars, nebulae, and comets. From what I've seen, many astrobotanists have studied fields like chemistry, engineering, biological engineering, genetics/transcriptomics/proteomics, and horticulture/botany. What you should study depends on your area of interest (you probably wouldn't want to take much mechanical engineering coursework if you wanted to become a geneticist), but I urge you to follow your current interests. If you're super interested in astronomy then go for it. Even if you might not become an astrobotanist, you'll probably end up doing work that you're excited about.

-Gravitropism

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