Astronauts are known for eating not the freshest foods and while their diets consist of more than freeze dried neapolitan ice cream, growing food in space is going to be key to humanity colonizing other planets. However, a new study has found some troubling news about the healthsomeness of greens grown in space.
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00:00Astronauts are known for eating not the freshest foods, and while their diets consist of more
00:08than just freeze-dried Neapolitan ice cream, growing food in space is going to be key to
00:12humanity colonizing other planets.
00:15However, a new study has found some troubling news about the healthlessness of greens grown
00:19in space.
00:20According to researchers from the University of Delaware, leafy plants grown in simulated
00:24microgravity are more likely to harbor Salmonella bacteria.
00:28The ISS was already found to be a capsule full of fungi and bacteria as diverse as anywhere
00:32on Earth.
00:33Meaning the discovery of Salmonella on plants grown in similar conditions means it's also
00:37possible to happen up there, a dangerous notion since medical care could be weeks, if not
00:42months away.
00:43So why is lettuce more susceptible to bacteria in microgravity?
00:46Well the researchers found that when the leaves of the plants were in that state of weightlessness,
00:50their stomata pores would open.
00:51These are usually used to keep dangerous bacteria out, meaning the state of microgravity disables
00:56this ability somehow.
00:57With the researchers saying about their findings, the fact that the stomata were remaining open
01:02when we were presenting them with what would appear to be a stress was really unexpected.
01:05It is important to better understand how bacterial pathogens react to microgravity in order to
01:10develop appropriate mitigation strategies.