Scientists Found a Way to Grow Food on Mars Using Fungi — Future Colonies Explained

[00:00:00]One of the biggest challenges of living on Mars isn't getting there. It's eating once you arrive, and scientists may have just found the answer in fungi. Martian soil, called regolith, is toxic and completely stripped of the nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium that plants need to survive. But an international team of scientists has found that beneficial fungi could transform that dead dirt into fertile growing ground.

[00:00:23]The key species is arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, used in agriculture since the 1800s. It acts as a microscopic extension of a plant's root system, reaching into the regolith and pulling out nutrients the plant could never access alone. The concept is called living off the land, using local Martian resources instead of shipping everything from Earth. Fungi-enhanced regolith farming could eliminate the staggering cost and logistical burden of transporting food supplies across 140 million miles of space. The first Martian farms won't be built from Earth.

[00:00:54]They'll grow from the ground up, one fungus at a time.