Can Plants Grow with Mars Soil?

In “The Martian,” Mark Watney uses the Martian soil to grow potatoes in the controlled environment of the “Hab.” In reality, the soil on Mars actually doeshave the nutrients plants would need to survive on Mars! There may not be the right amount of nutrients depending on where astronauts land on the Red Planet, so fertilizers may need to be added to the soil. The perchlorates in the soil would be leached out and separated from the water.

NASA is developing a simulant, a replication of Mars soil, to better understand how it can be used for plant growth and other purposes.

Here is what astronauts are doing with plants on the International Space Station today.

Gary Jordan

NASA Johnson Space Center read more

oh dear ,behind you.

in this photograph you can see a couple of unsuspecting photographers in Richmond park ,south west London, you can clearly see the large red stag is right behind them .

odd pizza delivery .

if you live in a riverfront home in kent  you can expect a new pizza delivery service.the pizzas will be dispatched  by service delivers wearing wet suits covered  in buoyancy aid  in a canoe.

romi hitches strange lift.

this photograph shows romi the leopard seeming to be hitching a lift by standing on  top of a crocodile by nara river,Kenya.

Mid Ulster identified as 'giant hotspot' by scientists

An area in Northern Ireland has been identified as a "giant hotspot" by scientists studying a gene defect which causes people to grow abnormally tall.

One in 150 people in Mid-Ulster were found to carry the gene, compared to one in 1,000 in Belfast and one in 2,000 in the rest of the UK.

More than three-quarters of carriers will never develop health issues, but it can cause long-term problems and be potentially life-threatening for those that do.

Scientists hope the work will help find those at risk of passing on the gene.

The gene - called AIP, but known as the "giant gene" - can result in too much growth hormone, which is produced and released by the pituitary gland, a pea-sized gland just below the brain.

The excessive production occurs as the result of a non-cancerous tumour in the gland.-read more and see video

day my tooth was chipped .

sorry folks another story from primary school in 70s.i was getting ready to tuck into a rice crispy pudding after dinner as i bite down i went into instant pain due to a small piece of my front tooth being chipped.to this day its still chipped mainly due to 2 reasons -part of me and fear of the dentist.

new colours for hard hats.

yes the humble yellow hard hat is getting a facelift and being replaced by a new colour  code for them -build u.k- black - supervisor-orange -signalls-white -competent operative and vehicle marshal,blue -everyone else.site staff who are first aiders or fire marshals will have  a sticker -http://builduk.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Safety-Helmet-Colours-Build-UK-Standard.pdf