Moss has been shown to survive one of the harshest environments imaginable: the exterior of the International Space Station (ISS). Researchers sent three different types of moss structures to the orbital outpost: protonemata, or juvenile moss; brood cells; and sporophytes, or encapsulated spores. The juvenile moss didn’t survive the experience. Some of the brood cells made it, but 80 percent …
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Matt Damon grew potatoes for survival in The Martian, but researchers say mosses could one day help turn the dust and rocks of other planets into fertile soil. Physcomitrella patens, or spreading earthmoss, is already known as a pioneering species – albeit for being an early plant on the scene in areas of barren mud. Now researchers have found that …
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The discovery was made in a lycopsid fossil collected from the Paraná Basin, part of what was once the supercontinent Gondwana. After a detailed reanalysis using advanced imaging techniques, the researchers identified trilete spores embedded within the plant’s original reproductive tissues—an extremely rare state of preservation in rocks from the Permian period. As reported by University of Vale do Taquari …
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