Growing food in places where it should be impossible

随着任何农民或园丁都可以告诉你，生长食物并不容易。

It requires skill, more than a little luck, and the cooperation of Mother Nature. The history of agriculture is filled with tales of disaster when things don't work out. But it's also filled with stories of how man has moved past some of agriculture's greatest challenges by irrigating deserts, stopping crop-destroying insects, and modifying plants.

Now we seem to be entering an all-new era where food can come from places even harsher on plants than a desert. Scientists and others are looking at a future where food can be grown任何地方。Who needs land, water and sun when a combination of pluck, technology, and necessity can produce food?

Here's a look at four decidedly hostile environments where people are now producing food.

In space

在月亮种族的时候，美国人被宇航员吃惊，以及他们如何在零重力中吃任何东西。孩子们变成了与唐迷住了和宇航员冰淇淋。在今天的挤压酸奶和苹果酱包的世界里，很难想象他们曾经使用过牙膏管，当假装是晚餐时宇航员。

One thing that didn't change much about space food since the Johnson administration is that astronauts have had to bring everything they'll eat with them....until now.

美国宇航局has developed a see-through, self-contained chamber that astronauts can use to grow fresh produce in space. The chamber, dubbed "Veggie," has seeds, nutrients and a series of LED lights. NASA hopes that Veggie will give space travelers获得更好的食物并提供士气推动的爱好。

Under the sea

Spaceship living has always been comparable to submarine life, and food is no exception. In particular, the U.S. Navy has long experimented with hydroponics, asthis documentoutlining the requirements for something with the decidedly military name of Intensive Agriculture Unit can attest. Army veterans will take some pride in noting that it was the军队研究实验室在IAU上进行测试。但这很少安慰，因为陆军中的每个人都知道这一点folks in submarines eat really, really well.

在黑暗中

人们一直在长时间在温室中养殖植物。The Romans had a greenhouse-like system. The Koreans had a full-blown greenhouse with variable temperatures by 1450。

But as fabulous as greenhouses are, they required the presence of the sun. A greenhouse does little more than capture and hold the plant-producing power of the sun. But in submarines, spaceships and such, sun is hard to come by.

水培与土壤的需求相比，但大多数植物仍需要相当多的光线。在船舶和以LED照明为中心的空间的早期实验，而且事实证明，植物在红灯中会变得漂亮。但大约20年前的科学家发现，通过向混合物添加一点蓝光，植物更好。将红色和蓝色光线添加在一起，您可以获得植物型粉红灯。

进入Pinkhouse时代。Pinkhouses是室内，植物生长设施，在那里，太阳从未闪耀，环境可以更接近地控制，以避免食源性病原体的发展。Pinkhouse更像是一个比传统农场的芯片洁净室。这就是为什么像Panasonic，Toshiba和Sharp这样的电子公司正在全球建造这些食品工厂。

In Brooklyn

OK, maybe Brooklyn isn't really a "decidedly hostile environment" for growing food. But come on! It's Brooklyn, land ofRalph Kramden和Tony Manero。曾经被称为一样的地方borough of churcheshas become the borough of urban farming. Three of our美国五个最酷的城市农场在布鲁克林运营。也许这不像在太空中种植蔬菜那样令人印象深刻，但它仍然非常令人惊讶。