Studying root structure - w see thru soil

an intriguing study, and difficult to get the stuff to hold nutrients. Guess they need the fungi in there....

http://www.insidescience.org/content/see-through-soil-could-improve-crops/788

This looks creepy. It's like scientists still don't get that they can't improve on mother nature because they don't know enough about her to begin with. It think it's a cool tool to use for studying structure and things like that, but there is no way they can truly observe all the effects that can come into play that are in the soil. It would be a great educational and promotional tool for ecology, but when they start making speculations about safety and other things, it starts sounding like marketing hype and reminds me of monsanto.

I have such mixed emotions on this. On the one hand, it's fascinating. OTOH, it makes me want to ram my head against the wall, wailing, "If only you people would use your powers for good!"

As a study tool, it has some merit, even though it cannot give an accurate picture (no soil food web involved).

As a production method, not practical. Perhaps it could be useful when we colonize Mars. or the moon.

I totally agree, John. It will only teach you what it looks like to grow roots in an artificial environment. Even if there was some way to show how it reacted in soil, it would only show how roots react on one given day in one given type of soil. Since no two roots are alike nor are two soils alike (let alone ever having the micro-organism herd alike), it only gives a partial picture.