UW-Madison technology that helped plants thrive in outer space has landed in grocery stores, helping extend the freshness of fruit, vegetables and flowers. Normally these products are at the mercy of ethylene, a natural hormone that causes them to wither prematurely and spoil. But the new technology, developed by Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor Marc Anderson, uses titanium dioxide as a catalyst to break ethylene into the harmless byproducts of carbon dioxide and water vapor. The Wisconsin Center for Space Automation and Robotics originally used this process for a series of plant-growth experiments on the Space Shuttle.

The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation has patented Anderson's technology and the project received marketing assistance from UW Technology Enterprise Cooperative. KES Irrigation Systems of Atlanta has licensed it. The firm markets a device called Bio-Kleen to grocery stores throughout the country, and the device could increase the shelf life of produce and flowers by a week. Pictured: Anderson displays a cantaloupe that has benefited from Bio-Kleen.

Photo by Bruce Fritz