this post was submitted on 07 Mar 2026
492 points (98.6% liked)

science

25792 readers
793 users here now

A community to post scientific articles, news, and civil discussion.

dart board;; science bs

rule #1: be kind

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] ageedizzle@piefed.ca 14 points 2 days ago (3 children)

How would the moons gravity affect the growth of crops?

[–] scarabic@lemmy.world 1 points 10 hours ago

That’s what you don’t get from this simulation.

My uneducated guess is that 1/6th gravity would still be a great deal more like earth than 0 gravity.

[–] backalleycoyote@lemmy.today 11 points 2 days ago

Low and zero gravity can affect how roots spread/dig and later can cause issues with how water and nutrients circulate through the stalk since they evolved to circulate with Earth level gravity. Space station experiments have proven it’s not impossible, the plants can adapt, they’re just a bit different. Trees would probably struggle, most crops would be fine. What’s really difficult is pollination. You’d probably have to hand pollinate, set up a wind system in your greenhouse, or get self-pollinaters. Bees would struggle to adapt because low gravity would mess with their flight, their dance communication, and probably their honeycomb structure and larval development.

[–] Bbbbbbbbbbb@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I imagine they would grow taller, possibly faster

[–] massive_bereavement@fedia.io 13 points 2 days ago (3 children)

That makes me think that we shouldn't bring potatoes there. They'll become too strong, unstoppable.

[–] kinkles@sh.itjust.works 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

We will send Irish astronauts to tame the tuber threat

[–] grue@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago

Irish astronaut

This made me ask "has there ever been such a thing?"

The answer is apparently "not yet," but Dr. Norah Patten will potentially be the first, sometime within a year or so.

[–] Know_not_Scotty_does@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] grue@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

Kudzu isn't as virulent as people think. It looks like it eats entire forests when seen from the highway, but it's actually only covering the trees on the edge.