00:03Mosses are amazing plants, able to transform a lifeless mineral like a rock into a garden of sorts, habitable for
00:10myriad creatures.
00:11Mosses include a whole host of similar organisms called bryophytes.
00:15And now researchers say those very plants might be able to jumpstart life on Mars.
00:20These organisms were what once did the very same on Earth, when its non-oceanic surface was little more than
00:25a rocky wasteland.
00:27These organisms stretched out of the primordial ooze, crawling across land, and literally laying out a carpet of hospitable Earth
00:33for other species to thrive upon.
00:36Experts were looking in particular at this type of moss, known as centricia coninivus.
00:41It's notable because it thrives in desert mountains all over the world, especially in northwest China.
00:46In that area, temperatures fluctuate from a frigid minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit all the way up to a scorching 149
00:53degrees Fahrenheit.
00:54Which is why researchers have recently put its extraterrestrial survival skills to work, freezing the plant in minus 112 degree
01:01Fahrenheit conditions for two to five years.
01:03And minus 320 degree Fahrenheit conditions for 15 to 30 days, mimicking Mars.
01:09They also slammed the plant with extreme pressure and hit it with Mars surface levels of radiation, with the researchers
01:15finding it could withstand it all.
01:17Writing in their recently released paper, looking to the future, we expect that this promising moss could be brought to
01:22Mars or the moon to further test the possibility of plant colonization and growth in outer space.
01:28Mula alleys
01:28Let's pose the next step!
01:31Mula alleys
01:32beverages
