Farming on the Moon with Neil deGrasse Tyson, Anna-Lisa Paul & Robert Ferl

Рет қаралды 99,057

Күн бұрын

Can you actually grow potatoes on Mars? On this episode, Neil deGrasse Tyson and comic co-host Paul Mecurio explore how to grow plants in space and whether we can farm on the Moon and Mars with University of Florida Space Plants Lab biologists Anna-Lisa Paul and Robert Ferl.
Do we have experience trying to grow things on moon soil? Learn about regolith and the moon dirt brought back by the Apollo missions. What is the difference between dirt and soil? What are the challenges of growing plants in non-living soil? Discover orbital plant research, microgravity, and what happens to biology when not protected by Earth’s magnetic field. How do plants respond to space at a molecular level?
What types of plants are used for space plant research? Learn about Arabidopsis thaliana and its role in space plant research. What does it taste like? Discover the many ways to stress a plant out. Are different areas of the moon better for farming? We explore what makes good soil and what regolith might need to make growing plants more viable.
How does zero gravity affect how plants grow? How do plants know which direction to grow? Do plants grow toward light or against gravity? Is it a bit of both? Will future astronauts have to be vegetarians? Would food taste better or worse grown on the moon? What about moon wine? You will learn about other possible space-grown food. Could human feces be used as fertilizer like on The Martian? All that, plus, in the space-horticulturalist sequel who would play Anna-Lisa and Robert?
Thanks to our Patrons Andrew Herron, Bhargava Kandada, Mark Roop, Martin Bonner, Pete Quist, and Estee Catti-Schmidt for supporting us this week.
NOTE: StarTalk+ Patrons can watch or listen to this entire episode commercial-free.
About the prints that flank Neil in this video:
“Black Swan” & “White Swan” limited edition serigraph prints by Coast Salish artist Jane Kwatleematt Marston. For more information about this artist and her work, visit Inuit Gallery of Vancouver.
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About StarTalk:
Science meets pop culture on StarTalk! Astrophysicist & Hayden Planetarium director Neil deGrasse Tyson, his comic co-hosts, guest celebrities & scientists discuss astronomy, physics, and everything else about life in the universe. Keep Looking Up!
#StarTalk #neildegrassetyson
0:00 - Introduction
4:20 - Lunar Regolith
7:48 - Growing Plants in Regolith
11:28 - Space Plants Lab
13:39 - Solar Wind
17:47 - Space Plants Studies
25:08 - Moon Geography
26:25 - Apollo 11 Regolith vs Apollo 17 Regolith
28:17 - Volcanic Ash
31:32 - Plants in Zero G
40:13 - Lighting in Space
42:42 - Vegetarian vs Omnivorous Diets
47:06 - Feces As A Fertilizer
52:31 - Improving Infertile Soil on Earth
53:27 - Closing Notes

Пікірлер: 294

@StarTalk Жыл бұрын

Will we see space colonies within our lifetime?

@EngineerAAJ Жыл бұрын

50 years, give or take

@yourguard4 Жыл бұрын

Around 10 years before we have nuclear fusion power plants :P

@eddiecampbell3514 Жыл бұрын

I don't see why not.. we've accomplished pretty much anything else. If there's a will then I believe there's a way to do one day soon

@thenbwkmtkspktrminc.4613 Жыл бұрын

It would be great to have space colonies during Our lifetime but its hard to say. This planet would have to be better politically if it was to happen, i think.

@CUBETechie Жыл бұрын

Hard to tell iam 27 years old who knows what happens in the 2030s

@adude8186 Жыл бұрын

I didn't know Neil grows weed that explains why he's so smart and happy

@wangtoriojackson4315 Жыл бұрын

So technically, could what Matt Damon's character in The Martian did with the potato farm be termed "In-Shitu Resource Utilization?" Sorry, I'll see myself out.

@mrpearson1230 Жыл бұрын

Welcome back Paul! Very interesting subject! Loved the guests. Lots of information!

@Dizzz127 Жыл бұрын

I’m surprised we haven’t already colonized the moon at least as a practice run for Mars. At least if things go wrong on the moon we have a chance of reaching the colony in time to evacuate or resupply.

@DavidSigbi Жыл бұрын

It's much harder to colonise the moon than mars

@michaelconnaireoates5344 Жыл бұрын

The Artemis project is whats looking into it

@nickinurse6433 Жыл бұрын

Agreed. I cant believe Musk or some billionaire doesnt have a house there

@michaelconnaireoates5344 Жыл бұрын

@@nickinurse6433 his working on it

@randomvide1 Жыл бұрын

You gotta go big or go home

@woodselv8230 Жыл бұрын

This episode seemed to be more grounded. Lots' of good science. Great topic . Smart guests. LOVED IT.

@ddactar Жыл бұрын

Best episode, yet! Thank you, Anna-Lisa Paul & Robert Ferl!

@lbthingsstuffmore9513 Жыл бұрын

I have been waiting for this episode since Star Talk's inception! 🌟💚🖖

@StarTalk Жыл бұрын

Glad you stuck it out!

@jamesbond-pg3pl Жыл бұрын

Thanks for a informative program, but have you noticed that you guys talk way more than your guests, and don't let them talk much. You could get much more interesting questions answered from them and we could get way more science from them. Anyway love you guys.

@DannyJoh Жыл бұрын

This video would be quite representative for any movie. The male physisics and comedian get most of the lines, the biologist less and the woman hardly gets to talk at all

@macc240038 8 ай бұрын

My thoughts exactly.

@freefryz462 Жыл бұрын

I can't express (properly) how extremely interesting this was to watch, supremely well done! From the pick of the co-host, to the experts, etc, it was flawless! - Someone not educated in the sciences.

@StarTalk Жыл бұрын

Thanks for the compliment! Hope you learned from it!

@shadowforgedgamerz520 Жыл бұрын

Absolutely BRILLIANT show! This was a 5-star meeting! 10/10! Looking forward to more!

@IKGunaratna Жыл бұрын

What an excellent discussion.

@kirbygaspard8886 Жыл бұрын

I think way in the future, after we figure everything out. We should plant any planet with life where ever possible. Spread life if its not there.

@huldu 8 күн бұрын

Indeed, like what happened here. It's in our power at the end of the day maybe not today but tomorrow.

@heyimjustaguy3743 Жыл бұрын

I love Paul wanna see him more!!

@michaelccopelandsr7120 Жыл бұрын

Neil and Chuck for 2024

@dunderwood4444 Жыл бұрын

So much untold history and information and another reason why we need to fund NASA. Outstanding informative topic and episode. Brooklyn NY loves StarTalk #More$$$$forNASA

@StarTalk Жыл бұрын

Thanks, D Underwood!

@Denosophem Жыл бұрын

It’s my dream to be part of these things.

@mattevans-koch9353 Жыл бұрын

Great content and guests Neil and Paul. Would the bacterial content of the soil assist in mitigating the things like perchlorate in the soil and would a special fertilizer mix make selected edible plants more adaptable to the various soil types? Again, thank you all for a great information video.

@alexialorentz2428 Жыл бұрын

I'm not an expert and I think about soil almost every day. I incorporate it into my gardening and compost building. Soil Science was my favorite college subject and soil health is very important to our environment. I'm a huge advocate for planting native to help to improve soil health!

@MereTaDelConque Жыл бұрын

Glad to see a Chuckless video today. Thanks for great content!

@clarkcox1795 Жыл бұрын

Love you Paul!! this has been my favorite startalk episode yet, fantastic guests as always thank you for capturing my mind from the mundane day to day of life to sit and wonder for but a few moments

@MikeJamesMedia Жыл бұрын

Excellent! Thank you all for the great information.

@PinealPinePineapple Жыл бұрын

This is my impersonation of Neil SmokinDaGrass Tyson. "Oh my gOsHhHh"

@crazyo7560 Жыл бұрын

The roots actually grow downwards, or 'know' where down is, because they have amyloplasts witch have very much starchy, and that have more weight. Mindblowing nature nice👌

@rjsmith6698 Жыл бұрын

re; plants growing up due to gravity. Back in 2007, I took a photo of a small tree in Johnston Canyon, Alberta, which had grown from the bottom of an overhang on the cliff edge, and had grown downward, then made an 180 degree turn to grow up toward sunlight. So, it was basically a “J” shaped small tree.

@elck3 Жыл бұрын

Paul an occasional welcome change to Chuck. Oh, I went there!

@405adam Жыл бұрын

There’s life out there most definitely but as big as the universe is it’s probably highly unlikely that any civilization would be able to reach us and vice versa, unless they can control space time which also seems unlikely

@silentkilla14 Жыл бұрын

Yup +

@brandonsmith1838 Жыл бұрын

Don't forget the "time" gaps. Time also plays a part, not just the unimaginable big space out there. So you got big space and then you need the same time frame on top of that and needs to be atleast in the same area of a galaxy. So the odds of that is very highly unlikely.

@DavidMaxwell_ Жыл бұрын

Ok boomer

@jeffs6090 Жыл бұрын

Plus, let's say they do have some sort of warp drive or wormhole usage, the vastness of space is still against them. Our signals are only roughly 100 light years away from us. That's a significantly tiny bubble of space for them to "hear" us at all even if they were relatively close. They'd have to know we were here before traveling here. They wouldn't waste energy just going to some nondescript part of the galaxy. If they did spectral analysis on planets like we do, it would be very unlikely our star is one they've analyzed. If it were, maybe they only see the larger outer planets. There's just way too many variables for any civilizations to find each other. I do believe they're out there somewhere though.

@georgeleos8219 Жыл бұрын

Soo punch you. Agricultural growth is based on our knowledge of said viewed and modified influence. So. Grow crap on the where the freak ever. Real talk my guys. We just now figured out vapes are bad, mm Kay. Case in point. I trust corn grown on earth. I do not trust a potato grown on another soils atmospheric conditions. Refer 2 my prev theory. #Leotheory. Earth is made up of an unidentified magnetic matter forever reacting to the accumulation of occupied space in any gravitation effective measurement in occupied interpretation. Example. Water moves back and forth on any unobstructed occupied surface. And a plant will go up natural in any conditional occupied unobstructed occupied surface. This is where Ozone comes into play. Is it the radiational discharge of light liquified and magnetic resistance 2 other gravitational masses. Example why stuff burns in our atmosphere. Bk the sun light is unchecked. And if it breaks it is traveling at the speed of light. With particles that are unknown and have a different magnetism than it’s impact zone. Lost in orbit till it’s pulled or moved into orbit. 🙋‍♂️🙋‍♂️🙋‍♂️🙋‍♂️

@dandrebailey452 Жыл бұрын

I watched prob 90% of star talk shows an cant remember anything i heard lol but i absolutely love it an watch all the time

@drako7222 Жыл бұрын

So for watering the roots could you just have a little sprayer that sprays the roots every so often inside like a glass jar type container? Since the little spray droplets would cling to the roots

@gabrielhersey5546 Жыл бұрын

Moon’ was a fantastic movie about moon farming

@lxttsgo5428 Жыл бұрын

Neil your Built different

@chrissuess2795 Жыл бұрын

Can you grow arugula in regolith on the regular?

@munchkin0.o Жыл бұрын

Thank you so much !!!

@WildlifeWarrior-cr1kk 3 ай бұрын

Welcome

@cgmax7 Жыл бұрын

but china already did that In January, China made history when it landed its Chang'e-4 spacecraft on the far side of the moon. The mission was also the first to experiment with growing plants on the moon, and it brought to the lunar surface a mini-biosphere called the Lunar Micro Ecosystem (LME)

@silentkilla14 Жыл бұрын

But China does not like to share, they only like to steal others (by china i mean the communist party)

@brianupsher6675 Жыл бұрын

Moonwine: like moonshine but with a celestial aroma and heavenly taste

@Aquamayne100 Жыл бұрын

the onions bit was awesome lol

@SnoW-pk9zo Жыл бұрын

Honestly I like chuck more as a cohost

@CUBETechie Жыл бұрын

I think there are some plants which have huge Potential. I think daisys, dandelions are one of them because they are known to grow nearly in everything

@alphabeets 9 ай бұрын

Remember that the mass of the plant is created from the atmosphere- not the soil. The carbon in the atmosphere becomes the plant, leaving the oxygen for us to breath.

@eddiecampbell3514 Жыл бұрын

This was a pretty good one and yes even Paul had some pretty great, fun deep thinking questions and ideas. lol

@davidrobertson7881 Жыл бұрын

Excellent. So to go to the moon or Mars we have to build stuff there so we can feed ourselves. Small steps. Not tomorrow. It will be really cool when we can!

@michaelccopelandsr7120 Жыл бұрын

Great content, as always. Thanks guys.

@rloc99 Жыл бұрын

I would love moon pies especially moon cabbages would go good with Jeffy mix

@adrian.tabirca Жыл бұрын

Very intereting subject

@willrose5424 Жыл бұрын

where is the question and answer section?

@user-zx7fj9ct2d 2 ай бұрын

I'd rather eat a broccoli than a Kale, Yes I would, if I could, I surely would. Thanks Paul Simon

@harshsharma7154 Жыл бұрын

Hi neil, there is this person Named Sadhguru, who has travelled about 18642 miles lonely on a motorcycle ( he is 65 years old!!) Raising awareness for his movement on saving the soil from loosing Organic content. so that food has all the micronutrients in it. It would be great if you invite him here in startalk. By the way he has a youtube channel he has 10 million subscribers.

@nicholasgardiner9601 Жыл бұрын

@Harsh Sharma A guru, a pseudoscientist, and a grifter has nothing of value to offer on this subject even if you are enthralled by what you have heard and read about him.

@beejay6246 Жыл бұрын

Nicely presented

@grandpachas1267 Жыл бұрын

Great show today guys & gal.

@Wineman3383 Жыл бұрын

This is a cool subject. What's up chuck and Dr. Tyson.

@marcusw86 Жыл бұрын

What happens if a human lands on a planet that has more gravity then earth? Would it be possible to adapt plants and people to a higher gravity? Or if the planet has more co2 or nitrogen than earth? Could you still adapt?

@freefryz462 Жыл бұрын

Thanks!

@StarTalk Жыл бұрын

THANK YOU!!!

@WildlifeWarrior-cr1kk 3 ай бұрын

@@StarTalkyo

@karlgoebeler1500 Жыл бұрын

Great talk

@nathanfausti9213 Жыл бұрын

Late to the comments so it may have been mentioned already, but sommelier here, and better wine generally comes from *poor* soil. Grape vines grow like crazy, so limiting factors, such as old vines/poor nutrients/difficult climate will intensify the resulting grapes. Now, you still need the vines to be healthy, and avoid extreme weather, or the fruit won’t set/ripen correctly and the crop is ruined, but otherwise, a super verdant grapevine produces flavorless wine. Back to the point, soil that makes great wine won’t likely make good food crops, but grapes as food could be worth looking into, given their vigor.

@mikeavery4098 Жыл бұрын

My question is can we run a thin layer of magnets on the outside of a spacecraft with thin copper wiring connected to batteries to create a electro magnetic field that would protect us from solar flares gamma rays x-rays UV rays and if so can we detect the solar flares in time to magnetize the hull when we need it so we can reserve the batteries

@thenamelesspoet Жыл бұрын

You were talking about modifying plants.. That got me thinking about modifying them to be able to grow under Different spectrums of light or in some crazy way possibly radio waves. The visible spectrum, is only a small spectrum that our eyes can see. It does not include things like sonar, ultraviolet, Gamma, Xray, etc. Clearly photosynthesis, works based on light but aren't light and radio waves both basically waves?

@enadegheeghaghe6369 Жыл бұрын

You forget that some parts of the electromagnetic spectrum can destroy DNA. and would not only destroy the plants but humans along with them. And even if you somehow managed to create an organism that uses xrays or gamma rays instead of visible light, your creation would not be a plant. It would be something else

@SteveC38 Жыл бұрын

Awesome Show!

@growsomeplace9987 Жыл бұрын

I think about soil a lot :)

@juancarraballo9731 Жыл бұрын

good subject guys. and i always wonder can earthworm live in either the moon or mars ect ??

@jambonejim1249 Жыл бұрын

What would the world be without homegrown tomatoes? - Guy Clark

@karu4518 Жыл бұрын

What plant species are best adapted to handle low g or zero g, we wonder? Perhaps we could carry off some lessons!

@olencone4005 Жыл бұрын

There's been a number of different types of lettuce, cabbage, onions, wheat, rice, cucumbers, radishes, potatoes, and kale (oh, and various flowers, too!) grown without any issues in one experiment or another on the ISS. It seems to be less a matter of the plants adapting to zero g as it is us adapting the plant's growing environment to correct for the differences.

@JoinGamesLinks Жыл бұрын

Soil + nutrients + water Will all be needed to start . Build full plants sealed unit . We still need Algae kelp seaweed .

@JoinGamesLinks Жыл бұрын

Moon is Chalk dust gently packed + Floating perfect @ perfect distance Based on size + weight volume .

@JoinGamesLinks Жыл бұрын

Sleep in room with plants .

@CUBETechie Жыл бұрын

We test it on moon regulit the first test where okay the look of the plant wasn't good or healthy butbit Shows that it is possible. I think they should continue the Experiment. 4:10 but is gene editing really necessary?

@petersage5157 23 күн бұрын

There was another StarTalk video where Neil mulled over, among other things, why we call ourselves Earthlings but we call people from other planets Martians etc. I can't find that video right now, but since this one brings up _The Martian,_ this seems an appropriate to make this comment. I think it comes down to proto-Indo-European roots of declension of nouns. On Earth, we are people _of_ Earth, and therefore Earthlings; visitors _from_ Mars are properly called Martians. I contest that _The Martian_ would more properly have been titled _The Marsling_ because the stranded astronaut became a person _of_ Mars. If we ever put people on Mars, they would be Earthians.

@leeFbeatz Жыл бұрын

Paul was exceptionally positive and fly along with y’all!!! Awesome episode!!!

@cleander97 Жыл бұрын

If you like to learn about the importance of soil in growing crops and vegetables 🌶 🌽 🍅, Just watch the juice weasel character played by Jim Carrey in living in colors.

@LazyLifeIFreak Жыл бұрын

I wonder how that regolith would react in a hydroponic environment.

@growsomeplace9987 Жыл бұрын

How about aquaponics?

@awesomeshots9358 Жыл бұрын

Why you guys still using wired earphones?

@huldu 8 күн бұрын

As a food source would mushrooms be easier to grow as they don't need "light" or is that a misconception?

@nikhilsrivastava1931 Жыл бұрын

does any1 know, in which scenario can energy converted into mass nad vive verse..?

@BluntBrazenCurt_Evolved Жыл бұрын

kzfaq.info/get/bejne/prCqlceUrbeYXXU.html

@letmewatchmyshows Жыл бұрын

Biological process is one Nuclear is another It’s a good question

@lbthingsstuffmore9513 Жыл бұрын

What Jonathan Smith said!😂💚🖖. Great question! Keep thinking😄🌟

@nikhilsrivastava1931 Жыл бұрын

@@lbthingsstuffmore9513 😂😂😂...no seriously if anyone know plz get to know me, the ans or source from were i can get its ans...

@lbthingsstuffmore9513 Жыл бұрын

@@nikhilsrivastava1931 😂😂that is the answer. Think of sunlight. Nuclear fusion happens, provides both a wave and a particle.( Energy and Mass) When you eat food, the molecules you consume is energy converted to build your mass.😉 Just one example.💚

@marinalomanova8077 20 күн бұрын

Plants are strongest organism🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

@Mamimiamia Жыл бұрын

Kale is good mixed with collard greens!

@theodoreroberts3407 Жыл бұрын

Okay, you brought it up, sort of. How do plants grow in space? Is there a difference? ... And the soil?

@trevorsmith6451 Жыл бұрын

I like where they are going with the small plant testing, but have they thought of utilizing micro greens as a source of food? Not only does it take very little water and can be grown in a fabricated base like coco mats instead of soils, it takes almost no light to grow and the harvest time is days as opposed to months like normal produce. On top of that they are packed full of nutritional and vitamin benefits!

@JoinGamesLinks Жыл бұрын

Is the Arapodopols plant an Extreamafile ? Or just robust ?

@JoinGamesLinks Жыл бұрын

The power in a mustard seed .

@JoinGamesLinks Жыл бұрын

Plasticity = environment flexibility ?

@HumanFellaPerson Жыл бұрын

Listen to the B52s song "There's a Moon in the Sky" it references the Van Allen belt.

@rodinunez5967 Жыл бұрын

Got a Sprouts Farmers Market ad before🧐

@mikeavery4098 Жыл бұрын

So what I'm hearing is we're way behind in our studies as far as plant biology and alien plant soil as far as the moon and Mars and how we can manipulate the soil to grow plants in it as far as if we have to add minerals or filter it and remove elements that don't agree with the plans and things of that nature.

@thineballs8280 Жыл бұрын

KISS is a light metal band.

@iwinnimi Жыл бұрын

Some trees turn their leaves upside down before it rains and then flip back over when the rain is done.

@edwardmartin6052 Жыл бұрын

Yeah, I expect they would conduct extensive studies on lunar materials. Obviously, the base materials need nitrogen and phosphorus. Some substances may even need removal? The last thing we need are moon weeds on the loose. 🌱

@ThetrueIronknife Жыл бұрын

I've been thinking about orbital farming with O'Neal cylinders; and the big problem with my thinking is pollination. A cylinder a mile long with a 1 mile diameter would be roughly 600 acres. How would bees be used since bees use the sun to navigate? Pollination would be an issue on Mars or the moon as well. Can bees be genetically modified to live and work off planet?

@macysondheim Жыл бұрын

Bees eat plants, plants don’t eat bees dummy

@thelevijenkins Жыл бұрын

spiraled tube model- smaller cylinders not 1 big one & rapid strong shifts in barometric pressures could sequentially push pollenated air with a fairly cheap pump

@MrMedicalUK Жыл бұрын

@@macysondheim bees eat honey.....they don't eat plants lmao Dummy

@nicholasgardiner9601 Жыл бұрын

@Frank Oatley You may have been thinking but obviously not about matter mass or scale. All of the construction has to be launched into orbit and assembled. You can't assemble anything a mile in any dimension on an empty stomach.

@MadDragon75 Жыл бұрын

The only thing that you have ever said on Twitter Neil, that I didn't like was when you were saying that we had plenty of oxygen on Earth to last many many years during the Amazon forest fire.. Those are the kind of Statistics some people just need to keep to themselves sometimes. 😆 but it's all good.

@HexerPsy Жыл бұрын

This episode was the lightest on information I have seen so far..... Like this had a three hour interview, cut in the jokes and cut the information for whatever reason...

@platygetzkillz2144 Жыл бұрын

Dissapointed to see that Mark Watney was not in attendance for this interview

@leeFbeatz Жыл бұрын

My first thought… is that maybe the moon could be used for space farming of asteroids and other resources considering there is no atmosphere and yet will not affect the stocks, where bringing that sort of material into earths atmosphere, without the breaking down and calculation of the total amount of resource, could do that sort of thing.

@letmewatchmyshows Жыл бұрын

That’s the plan for Mars fyi

@macysondheim Жыл бұрын

No.

@Zeesneakyninja Жыл бұрын

Also easier to launch from because it’s low gravity. But mars is even closer to the asteroid belt.

@Russia-bullies Жыл бұрын

As using the moon as a lab would be a good idea,if it happens soon,agreed.You must bear in mind that the moon is & will be leaving,though.

@Russia-bullies Жыл бұрын

@@Zeesneakyninja .& has dust storms

@peterkirby1753 Жыл бұрын

Food in Spaaaaaaace 🌿

@mikeavery4098 Жыл бұрын

We shouldn't worry about growing plants in 0g because if we don't create an artificial gravity our bones will deteriorate before we get to a far away planet we'd have to create some kind of gyroscope or center fuse spacecraft that can produce at least one g to keep the integrity of our bodies