Education

UF researchers find plants begin adapting to spaceflight within minutes

A University of Florida study published in npj Microgravity found that plants start undergoing biological changes almost immediately after leaving Earth, tracking more than 1,200 genes that shifted activity across different phases of a suborbital Blue Origin flight in August 2024. UF scientists Rob Ferl and Anna-Lisa Paul designed the experiment so that plant samples were preserved at four distinct moments during the mission — before launch, at microgravity, during descent, and upon landing — allowing direct comparison with identical control plants kept on the ground. The findings reveal that adaptation to spaceflight is a continuous, phase-by-phase process rather than a single adjustment that occurs after reaching orbit.

Sources: UF News