simon@masscomp.ccur.com (Simon Rosenthal) (09/20/90)
Many will remember that a one of the experiments in a (recent ?) space shuttle flight involved exposing some tomato seeds to space conditions for the duration of the flight. The seeds were subsequently distributed to schools all across the country, with the aim of discovering whether spaceflight had had any effect on their growth capabilities. Here's a report from the 5th grade at the Bridge School, Lexington, Mass. My son was presented with a pot containing a healthy looking plant at the end of school last summer ; it's been sitting on our deck since then, watered, fertilized once or twice. Several flowers, but none of them set, and NO TOMATOES ! I'd be interested to know if anyone (or their kids) out there had any better luck. - Simon _______________________________________________________________________________ Simon Rosenthal: ___________ Concurrent Computer Corporation / _________/_ Westford, MA 01886 /_/________/ / Internet: simon@westford.ccur.com
mears@hpindda.cup.hp.com (David Mears) (09/25/90)
> Many will remember that a one of the experiments in a (recent ?) space > shuttle flight involved exposing some tomato seeds to space conditions > for the duration of the flight. The seeds were subsequently distributed > to schools all across the country, with the aim of discovering whether > spaceflight had had any effect on their growth capabilities. > > Here's a report from the 5th grade at the Bridge School, Lexington, > Mass. My son was presented with a pot containing a healthy looking > plant at the end of school last summer ; it's been sitting on our deck > since then, watered, fertilized once or twice. Several flowers, but > none of them set, and NO TOMATOES ! > > I'd be interested to know if anyone (or their kids) out there had any > better luck. I'm afraid I can't supply many details (though I'm sure others can), but I recall seeing on the news within the last couple of weeks where a guy took some of the tomatoes which grew from one of the spaced plants and he entered them in a judging at the State Fair, or 4H meeting, or something like that. (He didn't let anyone know that they were from the tomato experiment.) Anyway, the tomatoes won the Blue Ribbon in the tomato category. So someone not only had good luck getting them to grow, but they grew better than anyone elses that had entered the judging! > - Simon > _____________________________________________________________________ > Simon Rosenthal: ___________ > Concurrent Computer Corporation / _________/_ > Westford, MA 01886 /_/________/ / > Internet: simon@westford.ccur.com David B. Mears Hewlett-Packard Cupertino CA hplabs!hpda!mears mears@hpinddf.cup.hp.com
jle@hpfcdc.HP.COM (Jer Eberhard) (09/25/90)
> Here's a report from the 5th grade at the Bridge School, Lexington, > Mass. My son was presented with a pot containing a healthy looking > plant at the end of school last summer ; it's been sitting on our deck > since then, watered, fertilized once or twice. Several flowers, but > none of them set, and NO TOMATOES ! > I'd be interested to know if anyone (or their kids) out there had any > better luck. Yes, most of the tomatoe seeds germinated and out paced the control seeds for the first 6-8 weeks. Then both control and space seeds continued growing and produced normal crops of tomatoes. There was no apparent difference in haveing "spaced" the seeds or not. I read about it in Cappers (a national, homey newspaper from Topeka, KS). Jer/ Eberhard, (SLASH), HAM = N0FZD | Hewlett-Packard - MS99, 1UP10, 15' East CAP SAR Pilot, COMM,INST,CFI-GLIDER | 3404 East Harmony Road (303) 229-2861 UUCP: hplabs!hpfcla!jle | Fort Collins, Colorado 80525-9599 ARPA: jle@hpfcla.fc.hp.com Jer_Eberhard@hpfcla.fc.hp.com
cgordon@vpnet.chi.il.us (Gordon Hlavenka) (09/26/90)
>Many will remember that a one of the experiments in a (recent ?) space >shuttle flight involved exposing some tomato seeds to space conditions... > >Here's a report from the 5th grade at the Bridge School, Lexington, Mass. >none of them set, and NO TOMATOES ! > >I'd be interested to know if anyone (or their kids) out there had any >better luck. Sorry I don't have more details, but the Chicago Tribune reported a week or two ago that a "space tomato" won first prize at a state fair. (Not the Illinois fair, though.) So _some_ of the plants did OK. The seeds were lofted on the LDEF which was stranded for a while. (The XLDEF?) After the LDEF was recovered the seeds were distributed to scientific researchers and schools. ----------------------------------------------------- Gordon S. Hlavenka cgordon@vpnet.chi.il.us Disclaimer: Yeah, I said it. So what?
john@newave.UUCP (John A. Weeks III) (09/27/90)
In <3330031@hpindda.cup.hp.com> mears@hpindda.cup.hp.com (David Mears) writes: > I recall seeing on the news within the last couple of weeks where a guy > took some of the tomatoes which grew from one of the spaced plants and > he entered them in a judging at the State Fair, or 4H meeting, or > something like that. I saw a blurb about this on CNN the other day. The tomatoes were grown at the Kansas State Cosmosphere in Hutchinson Kansas. They won the award at the Kansas State Fair. I would assume that the space campers tended to the plants while they were growing. -john- -- =============================================================================== John A. Weeks III (612) 942-6969 john@newave.mn.org NeWave Communications ...uunet!rosevax!bungia!wd0gol!newave!john ===============================================================================
amichiel@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Allen J Michielsen) (09/30/90)
In article <26ff7c8d-1b7.1sci.space.shuttle-1@vpnet.chi.il.us> cgordon@vpnet.chi.il.us (Gordon Hlavenka) writes: >>Many will remember that a one of the experiments in a (recent ?) space >>shuttle flight involved exposing some tomato seeds to space conditions... >Sorry I don't have more details, but the Chicago Tribune reported a week or >two ago that a "space tomato" won first prize at a state fair. (Not the >Illinois fair, though.) So _some_ of the plants did OK. I remember reading after the seeds were all distributed that somebody had done an analysis of the seeds, discovered that ... and that no fruit from them should be eaten... There was a big to do, and many schools returned theirs seeds, and the program was changed such that the teacher was supposed to remove all flowers so no fruit could be produced (in public labs/schools). al -- Al. Michielsen, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Syracuse University InterNet: amichiel@rodan.acs.syr.edu amichiel@sunrise.acs.syr.edu Bitnet: AMICHIEL@SUNRISE
johna@cbnewsj.att.com (john.a.welsh) (10/01/90)
In article <26ff7c8d-1b7.1sci.space.shuttle-1@vpnet.chi.il.us>, cgordon@vpnet.chi.il.us (Gordon Hlavenka) writes: > >Many will remember that a one of the experiments in a (recent ?) space > >shuttle flight involved exposing some tomato seeds to space conditions... > Sorry I don't have more details, but the Chicago Tribune reported a week or > two ago that a "space tomato" won first prize at a state fair. (Not the > Illinois fair, though.) So _some_ of the plants did OK. > The seeds were lofted on the LDEF which was stranded for a while. (The > XLDEF?) After the LDEF was recovered the seeds were distributed to > scientific researchers and schools. I read that a number of these seeds produced tomato plants that produced good looking tomatoes. One school in New Jersey did but nobody was allowed to eat them because they were not sure if they were safe. If I remember the article correctly, the plants grew faster than expected. My question is: has anybody analyzed these tomatoes to determine if they are edible?
smb@ulysses.att.com (Steven Bellovin) (10/02/90)
In article <1990Sep30.150742.1828@rodan.acs.syr.edu>, amichiel@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Allen J Michielsen) writes: > > I remember reading after the seeds were all distributed that somebody had > done an analysis of the seeds, discovered that ... and that no fruit from > them should be eaten... There was a big to do, and many schools returned > theirs seeds, and the program was changed such that the teacher was supposed > to remove all flowers so no fruit could be produced (in public labs/schools). The reason that you left blank for what was discovered via an analysis is that no analysis was done. Someone in NASA decided that in the enhanced radiation environment of space, there was a higher probability of mutation (fair enough), and hence there was a higher probability of a mutation that could cause trouble. The upshot: there were a few news stories about ``killer tomatoes''. No one involved seemed interested in calculating the probability of such a thing....
cgordon@vpnet.chi.il.us (Gordon Hlavenka) (10/03/90)
Lines: 22 > I remember reading after the seeds were all distributed that somebody had >done an analysis of the seeds, discovered that ... and that no fruit from >them should be eaten... There was a big to do, and many schools returned >theirs seeds, and the program was changed such that the teacher was supposed >to remove all flowers so no fruit could be produced (in public labs/schools) What actually happened was that a reporter (as is the wont of reporters) phrased a question so as to produce that answer. It was something along the lines of "Wouldn't it be possible that a random mutation might cause the plant to produce poisonous fruit?" (concept only; no attempt to quote). Of course the scientist who was asked this question responded as a true scientist, saying that pretty much _anything_ was possible with random mutations... Some members of the press attempted to panic, but were unsuccessful. No poison fruit has been found to date. ----------------------------------------------------- Gordon S. Hlavenka cgordon@vpnet.chi.il.us Disclaimer: Yeah, I said it. So what?
rlb@rtpark.rtp.semi.harris.com (10/08/90)
In article <2708f67f-1b7.5sci.space.shuttle-1@vpnet.chi.il.us>, cgordon@vpnet.chi.il.us (Gordon Hlavenka) writes: > Lines: 22 > > >> I remember reading after the seeds were all distributed that somebody had >>done an analysis of the seeds, discovered that ... and that no fruit from >>them should be eaten... There was a big to do, and many schools returned >>theirs seeds, and the program was changed such that the teacher was supposed >>to remove all flowers so no fruit could be produced (in public labs/schools) > > What actually happened was that a reporter (as is the wont of reporters) > phrased a question so as to produce that answer. It was something along the > lines of "Wouldn't it be possible that a random mutation might cause the > plant to produce poisonous fruit?" (concept only; no attempt to quote). Of > course the scientist who was asked this question responded as a true > scientist, saying that pretty much _anything_ was possible with random > mutations... Some members of the press attempted to panic, but were > unsuccessful. > > No poison fruit has been found to date. > > ----------------------------------------------------- > Gordon S. Hlavenka cgordon@vpnet.chi.il.us > Disclaimer: Yeah, I said it. So what? -- What I'm most curious about is: what's being done with the next generation of seeds from the plants that proved to be fertile(if any)? The offspring of plants grown from the exposed seed are much more likely to wild and crazy due to the exposure, especially if cross-polination occurred between different plants in the same batch. Any biologists/botanists out there that can give some followup on this? Bob ----------------------------------------------------------------- Bob Boyd Voice: (919)549-3627 Harris Semiconductor Microelectronics Center E-Mail Address: rlb@rtpark.rtp.semi.harris.com Disclaimer? Datclaimer? Reclaimer?