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A Sealed Garden That Was Watered Once in 53 Years (2017)

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Re: A Sealed Garden That Was Watered Once in 53 Years (2017)

#81

Post by whenchamenia »

markdown wrote: post #65
sudhirj wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not for cultured saplings. A plant growing in the forest is a resource, a carefully bred strain cultured over hundreds or thousands of years is nationalized IP.

> a carefully bred strain cultured over hundreds or thousands of years is nationalized IP Is that just your opinion, or is there an internationally accepted legal framework around that? Could you perhaps post a link where I might learn more?

It was the prevailing opinion at the time, and many compnies, some state-owned, have and do own patents on plants and their derivitive compounds. While its possible laws and treaties existed then, I am unaware of, I understand it was a literal trade secret, that had been stolen. It would not be hard to interpret that as theft (literal; of seedlings, or monetary; by damages) regardless of precedent. I know contries are still very protective. https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/crime-and-court...

Re: A Sealed Garden That Was Watered Once in 53 Years (2017)

#82

Post by sudhirj »

markdown wrote: post #65
sudhirj wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not for cultured saplings. A plant growing in the forest is a resource, a carefully bred strain cultured over hundreds or thousands of years is nationalized IP.

> a carefully bred strain cultured over hundreds or thousands of years is nationalized IP Is that just your opinion, or is there an internationally accepted legal framework around that? Could you perhaps post a link where I might learn more?

Just opinion... this kind of theft predates current law, though. Think of the silkworm smugglers [1] as well. Some crops an agri/zoo cultures were considered strategic resources and tightly controlled by the state. No idea what current international law says about stuff like this.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smuggling_of_silkworm_eggs_i...

Re: A Sealed Garden That Was Watered Once in 53 Years (2017)

#83

Post by jacobush »

nitrogen wrote: post #35
oftenwrong wrote: post #25

Can plants be used to clean pollutants from the atmosphere in a space station? Maybe not: https://www.gardenmyths.com/garden-myth-born-plants-dont-pur... https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/03/indoor-p...

It seems like as a rough approximation your plants would need to grow at least as much biomass as you eat every day.

"Space in space" is cramped only because we put up too small living quarters. But an inflatable balloon only for growing things in it need not be especially rigid or robust. It wouldn't even have to be rigidly fixed to the living quarters, it could float a bit to the side connected only by flexible tubing.

Re: A Sealed Garden That Was Watered Once in 53 Years (2017)

#84

Post by reaperducer »

julienreszka wrote: post #68

I just don't think there is enough evidence to believe his story.

People have been building terraria for centuries. You can buy all shapes and sizes in stores, some with fish. Though the fish ones probably don't last after the fish dies.

Gardening is one of the many areas of life where the best information and the bulk of information is offline.

Re: A Sealed Garden That Was Watered Once in 53 Years (2017)

#85

Post by whenchamenia »

julienreszka wrote: post #68

I just don't think there is enough evidence to believe his story.

You are correct, but there is very little incentive to lie. Maybe a helpful family member watered it a few times and never mentioned it. The concept does at least work for a few years as many sources can confirm, and the story is firmly in the plausible range imho. But in typical fashion, the data is scant and maybe contradictory.

The point on HN seems to be; the takeaway, arguing grammar/numbers/journalistic standard, and cooler-topics recently, and this has all 3. (Hyperbolic comments too, in case the /s is not autodetected by the content-bot mentality)

Re: A Sealed Garden That Was Watered Once in 53 Years (2017)

#86

Post by reaperducer »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #75

Seen this before. Simplest answer: don't believe it. That cork in the top looks new. And very, very removable. And if you still want to believe it, without evidence, then I have some property in Florida to sell you.

There's several hundred years of evidence in the real world. Millions of similar terraria have been built around the world for centuries.

The real reason this one is newsworthy is because nobody knocked it off the table and shattered it in 50 years.

Re: A Sealed Garden That Was Watered Once in 53 Years (2017)

#87

Post by tgb »

zeristor wrote: post #55
wongarsu wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You might be interested in Biosphere 2 [1], a 3 acre hermetically sealed dome stucture designed to house about 8 people with an ecosystem to provide them with everything they need to survive. They didn't quite get oxygen and food production to the required level, but if you add another acre or so it should work. With renewed interest in moon and mars colonies somebody is bound to revive that line of research. 1: http…

The first experiment was hampered by them not realising the cement needed CO2 to cure, to be honest I would have halted the experiment to find out what the issue was then restarted it. Although they might not have realised this at the time, but then they weren't really testing a proper closed system. It would have been useful if they were able to test a closed system without the cement sucking up the CO2.

Isn't cement a major CO2 emitter?

Re: A Sealed Garden That Was Watered Once in 53 Years (2017)

#88

Post by virusduck »

noir_lord wrote: post #73
chongli wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, so fast-growing lettuce, kale, herbs, radishes, carrots, peas, and green onions would be the order of the day.

Or a fast growing edible fungus. Space Quorn!

Happy Space Thanksgiving!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZ5ljKctOSk

Re: A Sealed Garden That Was Watered Once in 53 Years (2017)

#89

Post by jedimastert »

julienreszka wrote: post #68

I just don't think there is enough evidence to believe his story.

I mean, sealed terrariums are and have been a known thing for a long time. If you look more into it, 50 years doesn't seem all that implausible. To me, the most amazing part is keeping something around for that long.

Re: A Sealed Garden That Was Watered Once in 53 Years (2017)

#90

Post by vvdcect »

bjackman wrote: post #20

I wonder if part of what makes it work is luck of the draw wrt. the microbial life that was present at the start. You need stuff that will break down the dead plants at a good enough rate but nothing that competes for resources or produces anything toxic to the plant. Or maybe that's a typical microbial makeup for sample of gardener's compost?

Yeah I don't know if you noticed the white patch on the lower part of the terrarium, that to me looks like a mix of the plants root system and mycorrhizal fungi, so there should have been microbes present within the soil when it was first planted.
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