Crops grown on “Mars” soil found safe to eatJune 24, 2016 - 10:45 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Dutch scientists said Thursday, June 24 crops of four vegetables and cereals grown on soil similar to that on Mars have been found safe to eat, amid plans for the first manned mission to the planet, AFP reports. Abundant harvests of radishes, peas, rye and tomatoes all grown on the soil were found to contain "no dangerous levels" of heavy metals, said the team from Wageningen University in the Netherlands. "These remarkable results are very promising," said senior ecologist Wieger Wamelink. "We can actually eat the radishes, peas, rye and tomatoes, and I am very curious what they will taste like." Future Mars settlers will have to take food supplies with them and then plant crops in order to survive, AFP says. So using soil developed by NASA to resemble that of the red planet, the university has been experimenting since 2013 and has managed to raise 10 crops. But uncertainty remains about whether they would absorb the high levels of heavy metals such cadmium, copper and lead, present in Mars soil. Further tests are now needed on the remaining six crops, including potatoes, in research which is being backed by a crowd-funding campaign, AFP says. NASA plans a manned trip to Mars within the next 10 to 15 years or so, and similar projects are also being pursued by U.S. billionaire Elon Musk and the Dutch company Mars One, tentatively aiming to set up human colonies on the Red Planet. Related links: Top stories Yerevan will host the 2024 edition of the World Congress On Information Technology (WCIT). Rustam Badasyan said due to the lack of such regulation, the state budget is deprived of VAT revenues. Krisp’s smart noise suppression tech silences ambient sounds and isolates your voice for calls. Gurgen Khachatryan claimed that the "illegalities have been taking place in 2020." Partner news Most popular in the section | The Power of One Dram to benefit Road of Life charity The companies inform that the May beneficiary of The Power of One Dram is the “Road of Life” charitable organization. Kazakhstan welcomes Yerevan, Baku’s agreement to meet in Almaty Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has welcomed the agreement of Baku and Yerevan to hold negotiations in Almaty. Armenia offers to temporarily host, preserve Gaza manuscripts The Armenian Foreign Minister has said Yerevan is ready to help preserve manuscripts from the conflict zone in Gaza. Aliyev says no need for mediators in Armenia-Azerbaijan process Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev believes that Baku and Yerevan do not mediators in the process of normalizing relations. |