- 4 hours ago
Moss survived space, stores water like a sponge and absorbs pollution. Meet the tiny plant with surprisingly big potential to make our cities cleaner and cooler.
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00:00This tiny plant survived on the outside of the ISS.
00:04It's been used in sanitary pads and wound dressings,
00:07but most people want to remove it from their roof tiles or terrace.
00:13Some love it, others hate it.
00:15It's been here since before dinosaurs roamed the earth,
00:17and now some people think it could help make our cities more livable.
00:21Tiny but totally versatile, this is the fascinating world of moss.
00:27Here at this former military compound on Berlin's outskirts,
00:31a company has been developing a device that harnesses moss's superpowers.
00:36This module has big green permeable patches attached inside.
00:40The lush moss looks stunning, and it's really nice to the touch. But there's more.
00:50Put simply, it's like a vacuum cleaner.
00:53It sucks in polluted hot air and pushes it through the moss.
00:57Particles get trapped on the moss's surface, and the moss transpires water, which evaporates,
01:03creating a cooling effect.
01:08The technology tries to amplify this cleaning and cooling effect.
01:12For that, Peter Senger and his team grow dozens of moss carpets.
01:18Moss cultivation is still a largely unknown field.
01:21You can find info on how to grow tomatoes just about anywhere.
01:24But with mosses, it's a bit more complicated, which is why we've done a great deal of pioneering work
01:29in this area, as well as exploring how to grow mosses without soil or substrate.
01:36After years of experimenting, Peter and his team figured out how to grow moss on mesh mats
01:41and significantly accelerate its growth.
01:48The moss here can grow to a usable size in 10 to 12 weeks, around 16 times faster than in
01:55nature.
01:5712 weeks instead of several years.
02:00Moss on steroids? Nope. Chemicals are only used in emergencies. This is just water.
02:08But Peter is not the only one trying to grow moss on a larger scale.
02:12In the Netherlands, a Dutch startup is deliberately trying to grow moss on buildings in an attempt to
02:17clean and cool the air around them. It all started when founder Auke Bly was studying civil engineering.
02:23Two of his professors researched how to get rid of moss on concrete walls.
02:28The idea back then was that mosses would destroy concrete and make buildings deteriorate over time.
02:36Actually, they found out that mosses are not there to destroy your concrete,
02:42but they grow on concrete that is destroyed or that's bad.
02:46So their research actually finalized a list of things that you should not do
02:54if you don't want moss growth. And we took that list and we turned it around.
02:58We were like, okay, let's make concrete that supports moss growth as good as possible.
03:03So back then we thought it has a big potential for urban greening.
03:08The company has developed a special moss concrete. And in their lab, Auke and his team try to learn more
03:14about which moss species grow best under which conditions. It's an ongoing process,
03:20exploring how to reliably turn a grey surface green.
03:23Yeah, this is the concrete. So it's a 90% recycled concrete material that's very porous.
03:28And on top of that, we spray mosses that when they grow, it looks like this.
03:34This is a recycled material, very porous and it has a lot of nutrients.
03:38So it's exactly what mosses need, what they want to grow on.
03:43In a practical setting, moss is applied on an extra outer concrete layer,
03:48like a skin that doesn't affect the building's structure.
03:51Once it's fully grown, it's supposed to cool and filter the air.
03:55But not just young startups are drawn to these mini plants.
04:00Some people have dedicated their lives to studying them, like Julia Bechteler,
04:04Germany's first professor of moss. She's been fascinated with moss since her early studies,
04:10when she learned more about plants and organisms that reproduce using spores rather than pollen.
04:16As well as mosses, this includes ferns, as well as fungi and algae.
04:21And it was just great to see that there are so many other groups of organisms
04:25that perhaps still don't get much attention and about which we simply know very little.
04:29Yet these groups of organisms also have a really significant and important ecological role to play.
04:38Mosses have no roots and they take up everything across their surface, almost like a sponge.
04:43They provide a home for many small critters,
04:46and they're attracting ever more interest from scientists as the climate grows warmer and drier.
04:51They're drought tolerant, which means they can make dew with an incredibly small amount of water,
04:58so they can survive dry spells and periods of drought incredibly well by entering a sort of dormant state.
05:04As soon as moisture appears in the form of mist, dew or rain, this plant can, so to speak,
05:10reactivate its metabolism relatively quickly and return to a normal, metabolic state.
05:20One kind of moss is particularly great at storing water, sphagnum or bog moss.
05:26Peat, which has been used as fertilizer and fuel for ages, is nothing but decomposed sphagnum moss.
05:33And intact peatlands are important ecosystems that can store huge amounts of carbon and water.
05:39And speaking of protecting ecosystems, some mosses can also indicate how the earth's climate is changing.
05:46Norbert Stapper checks hundreds of trees every year in German cities for environmental agencies,
05:52research organizations and municipalities, like here in Düsseldorf.
05:56No need for expensive measuring devices.
05:59He uses moss and lichen on trees as smart yet low-tech sensors for a simple reason.
06:05A thermometer measures temperature, a humidity meter measures humidity.
06:09A carbon monoxide detector reacts to carbon monoxide.
06:13But if there's also hydrocyanic acid in the air, the CO detector will not sound the alarm.
06:20Mosses absorb all substances in the air and react to any toxins present.
06:27Using organisms to map environmental changes, like pollution or heat, is called bioindication.
06:33Across Europe, mosses are used to evaluate pollution from microplastics, PFAS, nitrogen and heavy metals.
06:41And the distribution and diversity of mosses can also tell us about temperature differences.
06:47We're now barely 50 meters away from the green space where we see these lush carpets of moss on the
06:52trees.
06:53Here we also have moss, but only these drought-tolerant and fertilizer-tolerant species.
06:58It's hotter here.
07:01This could signify a heat island situation.
07:04Over time, changes in growth density and the distribution of moss and lichen species
07:08show how much the environment has changed.
07:12Wherever the map shows red or dark red, we either have no moss on the trees at all,
07:17or only heat-tolerant lichen.
07:21Okay, so we've seen that moss responds to its environment, which allows us to track changes.
07:26Mosses also have an effect on their environment.
07:28But how much can we humans really make use of that?
07:33We can trap up to 80% of fine particulate matter in the moss and cool the air by up
07:37to 4 Kelvin at the same time.
07:39We achieve a noticeable cooling effect within a 50 to 100 square meter radius around the products.
07:48Scientists don't dispute what moss is generally capable of in its natural habitat.
07:53But there are limits to its technological application.
07:56And that's why it's important that science takes a closer look.
08:04We know that mosses can provide cooling because of their ability to retain water.
08:09And they can definitely capture particulate matter.
08:13But how effectively this can ultimately be used in cities is something that still needs further research.
08:22And even Peter says his technology is no one-stop shop.
08:27I would never claim that our technology could cool down an entire city.
08:31We don't need a blanket solution for every part of the city.
08:35But our moss modules are a useful solution for hotspot situations.
08:41And there's another catch. If you let moss work hard in a machine every day, it'll need some rest eventually.
08:47After six months of use, the moss mats are done, so they get nursed back in the greenhouse.
08:52But not all of them make it.
08:55Every third or fourth mat needs longer to regenerate.
08:58And every eighth or ninth mat can't be regenerated and has to be composted.
09:02We'll probably never reach 100 percent, but hopefully we'll get close.
09:08The research continues, but challenges remain.
09:11For Auke and his team too. A recent study showed that the moss walls only provide an evaporative cooling effect
09:18when regularly watered.
09:19Otherwise the effect could be reversed.
09:22Growing moss in the lab is one thing. Reliably turning walls green in varying conditions is another.
09:30And especially with an organism that is super under-researched, this proved to be a big task.
09:38And in the coming three years we really want to go from a project company to a product company,
09:43to standardize everything, to make it 100 percent success every time we use it.
09:48Moss is often overlooked, but the little green plant is in the spotlight again.
09:52Because it helps us to better monitor environmental changes, respond to them,
09:57and because of its potential to mitigate the effects of climate change.
10:01And the scientist for spearheading moss research wants us to do something.
10:06Open your eyes. Walk through the forest, the city with eyes wide open, and take in the incredible variety of
10:12mosses.
10:13They're truly fascinating.
10:17I'd wish for a greater overall awareness of nature. We're not alone in the world.
10:22The state of organisms, as reflected by changes in biodiversity, tells us a great deal that ultimately affects us as
10:29well.
10:33So the next time you encounter moss in the woods or on your terrace, stop and take a closer look.