Can crops grow in the dark?

That is also one of the main problems related to space exploration: how to grow plants without the sun available on Earth?

Researchers have looked for solutions, starting from the assumption that the efficiency of photosynthesis is quite low and requires numerous other resources.

They therefore thought of replacing sunlight altogether and using electricity instead, in a process called electro catalysis.

It consists of using electricity to break the bonds of water and carbon dioxide, but converting them into oxygen and acetate instead of oxygen and glucose.

After adding some essential nutrients into the acetate compound, plants can absorb it to feed themselves, and utilize the carbon from the acetate in the same way they would have utilized the carbon from the glucose.

Using this acetate-based nutrient, the researchers were able to obtain crops without the need for any light, and even obtain them many times more abundantly than with the traditional method.

Vertical farms (which already save on water, space, transport and pesticides compared to traditional agriculture) incorporating this technique may…