Sant'Anna Science Café 2026 – Plants on the Moon: Small Steps for an Earthworm, One Giant Leap for Agriculture
The second edition of Sant'Anna Science Café, the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna series that brings research out of the laboratories to meet the city in an informal atmosphere, blending scientific conversations and live music.
From 9 to 11 pm, Prof. Chiara Pucciariello meets the public with her talk Plants on the Moon: Small Steps for an Earthworm, One Giant Leap for Agriculture.
Starting from a question that is as curious as it is surprisingly concrete, the event explores the relationship between agriculture, sustainability and space research: how do you grow plants outside of Earth? Which organisms can help regenerate soil in extreme environments? And what can earthworms teach us about future lunar missions?
Spanning plant biology, resilient ecosystems and scenarios that seem straight out of a science fiction novel, the audience will be taken on a journey connecting scientific research and the future of food, showing how even the smallest organisms can play a decisive role in tomorrow's challenges.
Sant'Anna Science Café is an idea by Debora Angeloni, lecturer at the BioRobotics Institute.