Electrically Conductive Soil to Enhance Hydroponics

Electrically Conductive Soil to Enhance Hydroponics
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Electrically Conductive Soil to Enhance Hydroponics

Electrically Conductive Soil to Enhance Hydroponics

Researchers at Linköping University have created a special electrically conductive soil for growing plants without traditional soil, using a method called hydroponics. The new electrically conductive soil is called ‘eSoil’. The findings of the new study were published on December 25 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Hydroponic cultivation is a method to cultivate plants without a soil. Instead, plants grow in a solution that includes all the needed nutrients and something their roots can attach to – a substrate.

It is a closed system that enables water recirculation so that each seedling gets exactly the nutrients it needs. Therefore, very little water is required and all nutrients remain in the system, which is not possible in traditional cultivation.

Mineral wool is often used as cultivation substrate in hydroponics. A wool-like synthetic material made of molten mineral rocks that is not only non-biodegradable, it is also produced with a very energy intensive process. The electronic cultivation substrate eSoil is made of cellulose, the most abundant biopolymer, mixed with a conductive polymer called PEDOT.

Hydroponics usually use electric stimulation for the roots to improve the growth and productivity of plants.

Previous research has used high voltage to stimulate the roots. But the advantage of the Linköping researchers’ soil is that it has very low energy consumption and no high voltage danger.

The Linköping University researchers have shown that barley seedlings grown in the conductive soil grew up to 50 percent more in 15 days when their roots were stimulated electrically.

Hydroponics enables vertical cultivation in large towers to maximize space efficiency. Crops already being cultivated in this manner include lettuce, herbs and some vegetables. Grains are not typically grown in hydroponics. In this study, the researchers show that barley seedlings can be cultivated using hydroponics and that they have a better growth rate thanks to electrical stimulation.

“The world population is increasing, and we also have climate change. So, it’s clear that we won’t be able to cover the food demands of the planet with only the already existing agricultural methods. But with hydroponics we can grow food also in urban environments in very controlled settings,” said lead author Eleni Stavrinidou of Linköping University.

“We can’t say that hydroponics will solve the problem of food security. But it can definitely help particularly in areas with little arable land and with harsh environmental conditions,” she added.



Forest Fire Near Athens Under Control, But Area on High Alert

A firefighting airplane sprays water on a hill in Thymari, south of Athens, Thursday, June 26, 2025. (104 Fahrenheit). (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
A firefighting airplane sprays water on a hill in Thymari, south of Athens, Thursday, June 26, 2025. (104 Fahrenheit). (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
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Forest Fire Near Athens Under Control, But Area on High Alert

A firefighting airplane sprays water on a hill in Thymari, south of Athens, Thursday, June 26, 2025. (104 Fahrenheit). (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
A firefighting airplane sprays water on a hill in Thymari, south of Athens, Thursday, June 26, 2025. (104 Fahrenheit). (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

Greek firefighters said Friday that a forest blaze that had forced evacuations around Athens was under control, but warned that scorching temperatures were keeping fire risk at a highly elevated level around the capital and on northern Aegean islands.

Greece has become particularly vulnerable in recent years to fires in the summer fueled by strong winds, drought and high temperatures linked to climate change.

The fire around Athens broke on Thursday afternoon near the towns of Palaia Fokaia and Thymari, around 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of Athens, and forced the evacuation of five villages popular with local and foreign tourists, AFP reported.

Though it was under control on Friday, a volatile combination of high temperatures and strong winds meant that a high risk of other fires breaking out remained, especially in the Attica region around the Greek capital and some islands in the north Aegean Sea, authorities said.

A spokesman for the fire service told AFP that over 100 firefighters with 37 vehicles and a helicopter were on standby near Palaia Fokaia and Thymari.

Fields, olive groves and some houses were ravaged by the blaze.

The blaze came on the heels of another fire on the island of Chios -- Greece's fifth-largest island -- which had destroyed more than 4,000 hectares (10,000 acres) of land in four days.

Weather agencies forecast a heatwave in the coming days with temperatures of more than 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit), including in the capital Athens.