Rock Tasting at Biosphere 2

[caption id="attachment_5071" align="alignleft" width="247" caption="Dragos Zaharescu, Ph.D. tastes ground rock used in his plant medium"] [/caption]With a mischievous grin and gleaming dark eyes, Dr. Dragos Zaharescu raises a small spatula to his lips and tastes. At his feet are four containers, each filled with a different type of ground rock--granite, basalt, rhyolite or schist. Zaharescu will blend this rock with bacteria or fungus, creating a sandy medium for seedlings he grows here under the glass dome of Biosphere 2. [More]