Ever since the Silicon Valley technology boom of the nineties, the phrase “nanotechnology” has attained a special place in the science world’s colloquial vocabulary.

Proposed devices implementing nanotechnology include LED contact lenses, improved fiber optics, and increasingly faster and smaller microchips that may revolutionize the way we compute. The intense hype surrounding this new wave of technology comes from its potential use in relatively every sphere of our economy and the potential to enrich our lives. Nanotechnology may play a role in improving agriculture as well, according to the October issue of the journal ACS Nano.

Mariya Khodakovskaya, Alexandru Biris, and colleagues recently discovered that by exposing tomato seeds to carbon nano tubes (CNTs), the tomatoes would not only grow faster but would also be healthier. The CNTs are believed to penetrate the outer coating of the young seeds and aid in water uptake, leading to an increased growth rate in CNT-treated seedlings compared to seedlings not exposed to these nano tubes. The researchers noted, “This observed positive effect of CNTs on the seed germination could have significant economic importance for agriculture, horticulture, and the energy sector, such as for production of biofuels.”

Scientific advancements in agriculture, for better or worse, tend to get a bad rap for their potential negative impact on human health (think GM foods). This study identifies a new way of possibly improving growth rates without genetic manipulation.

News Article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/009/10/091021115016.htm
Scientific Article: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/nn900887m

Discussion Question: Do you know of other advances bridging the gap between cutting edge science and agriculture? Please feel free to share these stories below.