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posted by janrinok on Friday May 09 2014, @09:56PM   Printer-friendly
from the new-generation-of-triffids dept.

Starting in 2008 Japanese astronauts brought some cherry tree seeds to the International Space Station. Upon return, there have been about 15 plantings and at least 5 of them seem to be maturing at an accelerated rate, growing very fast and blooming about 6 years ahead of schedule. Unfortunately the plantings were not part of an experiment, so there are no control trees to compare them with. From the story:

Tomita-Yokotani, a plant physiologist, said it was difficult to explain why the temple tree has grown so fast because there was no control group to compare its growth with that of other trees. She said cross-pollination with another species could not be ruled out, but a lack of data was hampering an explanation.

"Of course, there is the possibility that exposure to stronger cosmic rays accelerated the process of sprouting and overall growth," she said. "From a scientific point of view, we can only say we don't know why."

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  • (Score: 2) by hubie on Friday May 09 2014, @10:09PM

    by hubie (1068) Subscriber Badge on Friday May 09 2014, @10:09PM (#41410) Journal

    Well, we all know what cosmic rays did to them.

    • (Score: 3, Funny) by edIII on Friday May 09 2014, @10:22PM

      by edIII (791) on Friday May 09 2014, @10:22PM (#41415)

      That's not encouraging though.

      25% chance I gain the power to have a prehensile variably sized penis and literally fit in whatever airline seat those sadistic sociopaths can come up with.

      25% chance I can turn invisible, only while naked, and have telekinetic powers. The naked stuff I already figured out with the judge, so no value there. Telekinesis is cool.

      25% chance I turn into a walking flame that can burn the entire atmosphere off if I get too excited. I can fly, but... I can't carry anyone with me. So all that interesting flying stuff I wanted to do with chicks is off the table. Unless I like them crispy like KFC

      25% chance I turn into a fucking rock. Sounds like fun for about 15 minutes till I want to scratch my balls and realize that I need steel wool to do it. Also, not so friendly on the romance side of things.

      So really, I only have a 25% chance of getting something cool for me, a 50% chance of getting something I can work with, and a 50% chance of not being all that happy with what happened. Let's not discount Dr. Doom too if we ignore canon and go with the origin story in the movie. Then it's even worse. I think I want to stay away from cosmic rays. ...Now if you have a mutated spider that can bite me we can talk business.

      --
      Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
    • (Score: 1) by bill_mcgonigle on Saturday May 10 2014, @06:02AM

      by bill_mcgonigle (1105) on Saturday May 10 2014, @06:02AM (#41505)

      "Cells are bombarded with slightly greasy solar atoms which forces the body cells to react, to protect themselves."

  • (Score: 1, Troll) by Gaaark on Friday May 09 2014, @10:43PM

    by Gaaark (41) on Friday May 09 2014, @10:43PM (#41418) Journal

    "she said. "From a scientific point of view, we can only say we don't know why."

    I say, from a scientific point of view, your science sucks... why would you spend the money/time/etc to send the seeds into space and then not set up a scientific examination of the results.

    Waste of science.

    --
    --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
    • (Score: 1) by rancid on Friday May 09 2014, @10:54PM

      by rancid (4090) <{sabzi} {at} {mailtor.net}> on Friday May 09 2014, @10:54PM (#41421)

      Never was science. It was just a gimmick to get Japanese school children interested in space. And I think this story of supposedly amazing growth is just a continuation of that.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 10 2014, @03:08AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 10 2014, @03:08AM (#41461)

      Truly tragic, given the limited amount of science reserves we have available to us.

      I mean, science is already at $4 a gallon, and they just let that much of it it float off into space?

    • (Score: 1) by fadrian on Saturday May 10 2014, @01:26PM

      by fadrian (3194) on Saturday May 10 2014, @01:26PM (#41568) Homepage

      ... why would you spend the money/time/etc to send the seeds into space and then not set up a scientific examination of the results.

      If this were the US, I'd say the usual suspects - budget or that this was just a PR stunt to have "space cherries" planted somewhere. Since it's Japan, I figure it had something to do with school girls and tentacles, so I'm just not that interested (I'm more of a MILF and tentacles man, myself)...

      --
      That is all.
  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by frojack on Saturday May 10 2014, @12:15AM

    by frojack (1554) on Saturday May 10 2014, @12:15AM (#41440) Journal

    Another (probably many) studies were done where actual small trees were grown in the ISS to test how weightlessness affects growth and wood production.

    Nasa has a page on Root Growth [nasa.gov]

    One story in the BBC [bbc.co.uk] used the return of these to launch a relatively uninformative rant about the usefulness of the ISS. They never did tell us how the willow trees faired.

    --
    No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
  • (Score: 2) by Covalent on Saturday May 10 2014, @02:26AM

    by Covalent (43) on Saturday May 10 2014, @02:26AM (#41456) Journal

    You wouldn't like them when they're angry.

    --
    You can't rationally argue somebody out of a position they didn't rationally get into.