We’re all not living in outer space just yet, but it would probably be a good idea to be able to grow plants up there when the time comes, don’t you think?

And some folks at the Space Plants Lab at the University of Florida are trying to figure out the best way to do it.

The researchers, Anna-Lisa Paul and Robert J. Ferl, are using the weed Arabidopsis thaliana to see how they can be grown in extreme environments.

Paul and Ferl noticed that the plants underwent changes on trips to the International Space Station and the changes were big and happened quickly. The duo kept tabs on changes to the metabolism, growing patterns, and the genes of the plants.

Hopefully, their research will lead to growing plants in space and even on Mars someday…we’ll see…

Check out the video below to get more information about this fascinating project.