The Birth of NanoAgriculture

Mariya Khodakovskaya

Alexandru Biris

There has been a lot of concern over the health effects arising from the burgeoning field of nanotechnology, David Barden covered one such paper focusing on nanotube production in Highlights in Chemical Science earlier this month.^[HCS] What hasn’t been as discussed are the potential health benefits of carbon nanotubes (CNTs). In a paper released yesterday in ACS Nano, Mariya Khodakovskaya & Alexandru Biris (+coauthors) found that tomato seeds grown in a medium of carbon nanotubes germinated and grew more efficiently than their control group brethren.^{[ACS Nano]} This result is spectacularly seen from the image below.

After 27 days of growth.

The tomatoes grown in carbon nanotubes weighed more, grew longer stems, and matured faster. The authors reason this is due to the carbon nanotubes facilitating water intake, however the evidence provided doesn’t prove this beyond a reasonable doubt. Although I wouldn’t recommend eating these tomatoes just yet, one could still use the increase in plant biomass and efficiency for biofuels and related projects.

Link to paper: Carbon Nanotubes Are Able To Penetrate Plant Seed Coat and Dramatically Affect Seed Germination and Plant Growth

Mitch

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