These Plants Grew in the Dark Without Sunlight. Here's How.
Cast your mind back to your fifth grade biology class when you first learned about photosynthesis, the process where plants use energy from sunlight to convert carbon dioxide and water into glucose for food. Lose the sunlight, and the tomatoes you planted this spring aren’t likely going to last very long.
This can create a major challenge when it comes to addressing global food needs in increasingly cramped urban areas, where energy costs to grow indoor plants can run high. Sunlight is also a major hurdle for growing food at off-Earth locations like Mars and the moon. However, scientists have recently developed a process that could allow plants to grow without the need for sunlight at all, potentially upending the way we think about the future of farming.
In a paper published in the journal Nature Food on June 23, a team of researchers at University of California, Riverside and the University of Delaware have created an artificial method of photosynthesis that turns carbon dioxide, electricity, and water into acetate, an alternative chemical that plants can consume to grow instead of glucose. Using this method, the plants grew entirely in the dark and the study’s authors even found that the process was up to 18 times more efficient than the normal photosynthesis process for some plants.
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